UICC Regional Dialogue for Asia-Pacific on women’s cancers

The Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue focused on women’s cancers, notably breast and cervical cancer, as well as on the topic of integration. The Dialogue also addressed the wider cross-cutting subjects of health financing; data and evidence; ensuring that women’s cancers are covered by universal health coverage schemes; multi-stakeholder collaboration; and the voices of people living with cancer.

The Regional Dialogue featured different formats to support participant engagement and interaction, facilitating the exchange of views and experiences on common challenges, success stories and current opportunities for organisations in the Asia-Pacific region. It highlighted available technical assistance as well as research and evidence on strategies to address both cervical and breast cancer, and explored the added value of integrated approaches in the region.

Participants included UICC members – civil society, patient groups, cancer centres  – and network organisations from 22 countries from the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, key technical and financial partners – including United Nations agencies, other global health stakeholders and private sector partners – were invited to participate in the event.

The theme of the Dialogue was aligned with the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative and the WHO Global Strategy to eliminate cervical cancer, supporting progress for women’s cancers.

UICC places a specific priority on breast and cervical cancer, reflected particularly through UICC’s Breast Cancer programme and its role in the SUCCESS project (Scale-Up Cervical Cancer Elimination with Secondary prevention Strategy) project, as they are the leading causes of death from cancer in women, with over 2.8 million new cases and over one million deaths globally in 2020.

"The Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue aims to support practical action and progress towards tackling women's cancers in the region. Our goal is to strengthen regional networks, bringing together like-minded individuals who can support, inspire and learn from each other, paving the way for meaningful collaborations that will benefit the region in the long run."
– Dr Kirstie Graham, Director of Capacity Building, UICC

Applicants from UICC member organisations for the event in Manila were selected following a call for applications and considering, amongst other factors, the level of emphasis within their work on women's cancers, as well as balance in terms of countries and types of organisation represented.

This Regional Dialogue was the third in a series on the topic of women’s cancers. The first two were held in Côte d’Ivoire for Francophone Africa and in Brazil for Latin America, respectively in July and November 2022.

UICC regularly organises Regional Dialogues as part of its regional engagement, to initiate and foster peer-to-peer learning and networking among its members on key themes for the region, with participation from representatives of partners and networks.