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16 October 2018

UICC announced as one of three winners of the ICCA Incredible Impact Award

This week, UICC was announced as one of three winners of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Incredible Impact Award for impact following its 2017 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit event in Mexico City last year, during which key stakeholders in the cancer community came together to support progress in cancer control by 2025.

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The Incredible Impact Programme is run collaboratively by ICCA and Best Cities Global Alliance. UICC was one of three selected winners, recognised for the legacy, sustainability and accessibility of its 2017 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit event themed ‘Cities Driving Change’.

The ‘Incredible Impact’ of the 2017 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit

Following the 2017 cancer resolution, Cancer prevention and control in the context of an integrated approach’, Summit discussions were focused on how countries and cities around the world can accelerate impact on cancer control and, in doing so, make important progress towards achieving the global target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 2025. In the Summit’s call to action, participants were encouraged to:

  • Reinvigorate national action through the 2018 UN High-level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)
  • Work with city and national governments to develop sustainable solutions to improve access to cancer services that are aligned with established, budgeted and operational national cancer control plans (NCCPs)
  • Prompt cities with a population of greater than 1 million to apply as a Challenge City of the City Cancer Challenge (C/Can) 2025 initiative.

The Incredible Impact Award recognised the impact already seen at the national, regional and global levels since this event, notably:

  • City Cancer Challenge: The Summit closed with the announcement of a global call for applications for cities to join the initiative and to work with a network of global and local partners to improve access to quality, equitable and sustainable cancer care for their populations. As a result of the tremendous support and engagement received from Mexico, the Director of the Mexican National Cancer Institute, Dr. Abelardo Meneses, was invited to participate at a Regional City Cancer Challenge Forum in Montevideo, Uruguay in April 2018. Cities from across all regions and income settings have since expressed their interest to join the initiative, including Kigali, Rwanda, Porto Alegre, Brazil and Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • Mexico’s NCCP: The Summit triggered a strong involvement of Mexican stakeholders in the field of cancer control and supported continued momentum, particularly in the submission of the drafted NCCP and a corresponding budget to the President. The National Cancer Institute of Mexico, a member of UICC, was appointed to implement the plan and a National Cancer Committee is to be established in the coming months. The Mexican NCCP is poised to serve as a reference for other countries and for a more comprehensive regional strategy.
  • Treatment for All: Following the Summit, Salvati A.C., a civil society organisation in Mexico, was selected as one of the first three Country Champions to join UICC’s Treatment for All initiative, as a result of the strength of civil society in Mexico and the clear willingness of civil society and governments to work together. This initiative builds capacity for advocacy in order to call for improved and equitable access to quality cancer services at a national level.
  • UICC’s CEO programme: In 2017, in conjunction with the Summit in Mexico, UICC hosted a regional event ‘Leadership in Action: Cancer control in Latin America’, bringing together 43 senior executives from 19 countries in the region to discuss key regional topics. Through the networking opportunities offered through this event and the subsequent ‘Leadership Development Grants’ offered by UICC, which allowed senior executives to visit another organisation in the region for up to 10 days for peer-to-peer learning, UICC has since witnessed the creation and strengthening of collaborations in the region.
  • UICC’s Young Leaders Programme: The Summit serves as a platform to kick-start the 12-month Young Leaders programme, allowing emerging professionals to access the global health arena at the highest level. In 2017, the cohort of seven global health leaders selected for their contribution to cancer control participated, resulting in tangible and significant opportunities for them individually, for their organisations and in their country contexts.
  • Raising awareness: Hosting the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City generated the opportunity to raise awareness in the city about cancer, highlighted at an illumination ceremony, at which point a number of historical Mexico City monuments were lit in orange for the nights of the Summit activities.

“Thanks to the support of the UICC, since the Summit in Mexico last November, a network of Population Based Cancer Registries was officially established in Mexico and also the first steps were given to implement our National Cancer Control Plan; two historical events, to improve cancer control in our country. Now, our mission will be Cancer Treatment for All.” 
– Dr Alejandro Mohar (Appointed NNCP coordinator and Host of the 2017 Summit)

Learn more about the award and its winners in ICCA’s press release

Last update

Monday 12 December 2022

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