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27 September 2018

Continuing Quest for UHC for Cancer in Asia

On 5 September 2018 the UICC Asia Regional Office (UICC-ARO) convened the second Japan Public-Private Dialogue Forum at the House of Councillors Members’ Building as a follow-up to the previous meeting held at United Nations University in Tokyo in April. Senior representatives of government, academia and industry met to discuss the progress made since April, noting in particular the significance of the Japanese government having included specific reference to cancer in its revised basic policy on the Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative, which was adopted in July 2018. The meeting provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss ways forward for improving access to cancer care, with the WHO Cancer Report and other global initiatives in mind.

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UICC-ARO Director Hideyuki Akaza welcomed participants to the meeting, expressing the hope that further actions could be identified to develop public-private partnerships on UHC (Universal Health Coverage) for cancer in Asia. Keizo Takemi (Diet member) noted that at the Headquarters for Healthcare Policy meeting in July, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the basic policy towards the Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative (AHWIN) had been revised to include specific mention of cancer as an area for multi-sectoral cooperation. Under AHWIN it will be important to seek to coalesce unified Asia-wide efforts to tackle cancer and expressed the hope that members of this dialogue would continue to provide active input. 

Members of the Dialogue Forum engage in discussions

Tetsuo Noda (Chair, Executive Committee, UICC-Japan) noted that with UICC-ARO acting as secretariat for this meeting, he would work to ensure that outcomes from the meeting would be shared in upcoming forums at the Japanese Cancer Association Annual Meeting and at the UICC World Cancer Congress. Yuko Kitagawa (Chair, Japan Society of Clinical Oncology) noted the importance of academic societies working together to amass a database of scientific-based evidence that would be useful for all stakeholders. Hideyuki Akaza reported that one initiative already underway is the Asia Prostate Cancer Study (A-CaP), which could act as a model case for harmonizing registry data and analyzing the different ways in which countries tackle cancer. Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is working to develop a cancer registry that quantifies cancer cases, it is also of importance to collect real clinical data that will provide a picture of the actual status of treatment in various countries and raise the profile and involvement of clinical oncologists in initiatives.

Bringing all stakeholders together to take advantage of Japan’s excellent trusted status in public-private partnerships is key according to Haruhiko Hirate (Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Officer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.). Particularly in HR development on the local side that delivers to patients the best treatment possible. The President and CEO of Astellas Pharma Inc, Kenji Yasukawa referenced to the importance of producing both economic and scientific value over the long term for all stakeholders and that a key challenge is to ensure transparency and fairness in all initiatives going forward. He suggested that an important area for AHWIN could be to focus on supporting the development of healthcare and health insurance systems in countries where UHC is not yet established.

"The Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative has the potential to make a significant contribution to health in Asia, particularly in the area of cancer. However, regulatory systems will ideally need to be harmonized in order to facilitate future Asia-wide initiatives. This could be an area for governments to concentrate their efforts on."

Isao Teshirogi (President and CEO, Shionogi & Co., Ltd.) 

UHC and access to medicine will be a major agenda items in 2019, if one sees the draft agenda of WHO’s Executive Board, said Hiroki Nakatani (former ADG, WHO). He stressed that the experiences of Japan in UHC would be valuable for other countries and also pointed out  that improved cross-border regulation of drugs and other health technologies can be a powerful tool in achieving UHC across Asia and beyond.

The importance of reaching out through international forums, such as the Asian National Cancer Centers Alliance (ANCCA) and of unifying action at an early stage in order to produce long-term results was emphasized by the the President, National Cancer Center Japan, Hitoshi Nakagama. Furthermore, Hideyuki Akaza pointed out that unified action through various forums and initiatives, of which Access Accelerated is a notable example, would be of ever-increasing importance in the future.

All members agreed that AHWIN provides an excellent platform for private/public dialogue and reconfirmed their commitment to discuss and eventually form a common agenda of action that will benefit cancer control in Asia.

Last update

Friday 28 May 2021

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