17 Country Champions join Treatment for All in 2019

• Asociación Guatemalteca Héroes de Esperanza, Guatemala
• Asociación Salvadoreña para la Prevención del Cáncer, El Salvador
• Asociación Tour Rosa de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
• Borka for Each New Day, Macedonia
• Cancer Association of Namibia, Namibia
• Cancer Warriors Foundation, Philippines
• Esperantra, Peru
• Fondation KIMI, Burkina Faso
• Kenyan Network of Cancer Organisations, Kenya
• Kurdistan Save the Children, Iraq
• Ligue Sénégalaise Contre le Cancer, Senegal
• National Cancer Council of Mongolia, Mongolia
• NGO Avesto, Tajikistan
• Nigerian Cancer Society, Nigeria
• Samoa Cancer Society, Samoa
• Tata Memorial Hospital, India
• Women Coalition Against Cancer, Malawi.

As part of the national activation of Treatment for All, Country Champions will receive guidance and targeted, technical support to enable them to unite with national-level civil society in their country, jointly identify key advocacy priorities in line with the global Treatment for All advocacy campaign, and work collaboratively with government towards addressing inequities in their contexts and countries. In so doing, Country Champions become leaders of the global Treatment for All movement.

“Globally, we have committed to reducing premature mortality from cancer and NCDs 25% by 2025, and the work of these Country Champion organisations will contribute to the real impact we want to see. There is no time to waste in translating global commitments into national action,” said Dr Cary Adams, CEO of UICC.

Over 100 organisations from more than 50 countries expressed an interest, following a call for applications launched at the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 2018. The 17 Country Champions were selected based on their preparedness to take national action and engage meaningfully with various stakeholders in the implementation of a national Treatment for All advocacy campaign.

“It was an incredibly competitive process, and we are delighted to work with this 2019 cohort of Country Champions, and the ambassadors they will be for Treatment for All and for UICC,” said Micaela Neumann, UICC Advocacy Manager.

These 17 Country Champions join the first three Country Champions, Indonesian Cancer Foundation, Indonesia; Salvati A.C., Mexico and Uganda Cancer Society, Uganda, in a collective effort to reduce the cancer burden in their countries and improve patient outcomes. 

“We have done so much these past months to mobilise key stakeholders nationally for Treatment for All. The announcement of 17 more Country Champions presents an exciting opportunity to see what will be possible globally and in different regions,” said Paul Ebusu, Executive Director of Uganda Cancer Society.

A Treatment for All toolkit will become available to all UICC members later this year to support them to engage with other civil society organisations and their governments, and a second call for Country Champions will open in October of this year. In the meantime, UICC encourages widespread support and collaboration for Treatment for All through use of its social media toolkit.

About Treatment for All

Over the last seven years, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has united the cancer community to position cancer on the global health and development agenda, with the inclusion of cancer and non-communicable diseases in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 and culminating in the successful adoption of a cancer resolution at the World Health Assembly in 2017.

‘Treatment for All’ is the name of a bold and inspiring advocacy initiative run by UICC. It calls on the international cancer community to address the global equity gap in access to cancer services by getting behind four essential pillars of cancer treatment and care:

• Improving the quality of cancer data for public health use
• Increasing the number of people with access to early detection and accurate cancer diagnosis
• Providing timely and quality treatment for early and metastatic disease for all
• Providing basic supportive and palliative care service for all.

For more information, please visit: www.uicc.org/TreatmentforAll