Addressing the needs of people living with metastatic breast cancer

The eleven 2019 SPARC organisations selected for the third round of the SPARC Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Challenge participated in a dedicated workshop right before the Advanced Breast Cancer Fifth International Consensus Conference (ABC5).

They presented their projects that will be launched through SPARC seed funding and discussed best practices. Coming from countries such as Nigeria, Venezuela, Tanzania, and Haiti among others, the 2019 SPARC awardees were joined by an additional eight SPARC organisations from previous rounds. The workshop also benefitted from expert contributions, including from Dr Fatima Cardoso, Chair of the SPARC Selection advisory group.

"We look forward to implementing our project supported by UICC/SPARC grant. This will improve outcomes for MBC patients in Nigeria. The SPARC workshop in Lisbon was instructive and engaging and it was great to meet other grantees for the first time".
– Tolulope Falowo, Executive Director of CancerAware Nigeria - One Kind Act Foundation, Nigeria.

In addition to the tailored workshop, some SPARC projects, supported via SPARC grants in 2015 and 2017, are also presented as part of the main ABC5 programme. The delegates of this conference will hear how Project Pink Blue is using new technologies to address the needs of women living with advanced breast cancer in Nigeria, as well as Clinique Médicale Camassistance’s progress in putting in place a palliative care programme and collaboration with traditional healers in Cameroon.

 “At UICC we are extremely glad to be able to bring together these cancer organisations from all across the globe so they can exchange their experiences in tackling the needs of MBC patients, and apply the takeaways to the projects they will be initiating soon”.
– Sabrina Zucchello, Grants manager at UICC.

This gathering will contribute to strengthen and consolidate the SPARC MBC Challenge network, currently formed by more than 50 organisations in 35 countries.

SPARC MBC Challenge is an initiative of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) supported by Pfizer Oncology aiming to support projects across the world tackling MBC patients’ specific needs to, ultimately, reduce the number of women diagnosed at an advanced stage of breast cancer.