MONICA KAYOMBO, Lusaka
THE World Health Summit (WHS) recently took place in Berlin, Germany, under the theme “Taking Responsibility for Health in a Fragmenting World.”
The summit aimed to set the agenda for a healthier future by inspiring innovative solutions for better health and well-being for all.
Leaders and change-makers from politics, science, the private sector, and civil society gathered to foster impactful partnerships, accelerate innovation, and drive change.
During a session on “Advancing Public Health through Better Data,” organized by Vital Strategies, World Health Organization (WHO) Head of Management of Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr. Alarcos Cieza, emphasized the importance of cancer surveillance with population-based registers. “All of you know that the WHO has launched three cancer initiatives on cervical cancer, breast cancer, and childhood cancer, and each of them has the objective to support governments to tackle these different types of cancer challenges,” she said.
She added that WHO has the cancer target of 90-70-90 by 2030 and that the breast cancer initiative is aimed at reducing breast cancer mortality by 2.5 percent every year.
Dr. Cieza further explained that cancer registers allow for establishing a link between outcome and health financing mechanisms.
“It is important to deduce that data from cancer registers for universal health coverage,” she said. She expressed concern that most middle-income countries have not included cancer treatment in their health coverage package. Dr. Cieza also highlighted that cancer registers would help governments invest better, especially after the cutting of health support by the United States government from most developing countries.
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) President, Alrica Arehed Kagstrom, noted that low- and middle-income countries are the most affected by cancer.
“There is an urgent need to scale up prevention, treatment, and care, yet too many countries lack the data,” she said.
She said the data register is able to capturevfactors such as disease occurrence, identifying most cancer cases, treatment strategies.
She said all this can only be achieved f there is cancer data in place to reflect the realities.
She emphasized that cancer data integration is vital for decision-making and planning and that the only way partners can help countries battling with a high burden of cancer is through cancer registers.
Vital Strategies Senior Vice President, Adam Karpati, emphasized the need for governments to capacity-build people to effectively handle cancer registers.
“The connection between data collection and data use has significance in policy formulation,” he said. He added that his organization has been collaborating with various partners, including governments, on data sources for cancer surveillance.
Cancer Surveillance branch //IARC scientist, Marion Pineros, said that her organization has been involved in the collection of data over the years.
“We are happy that many countries have shown interest in having cancer registries,” she said.
She explained that each country and region has different cancer risks, which would in turn help in planning, setting priorities, and making follow-ups on certain programmes.
She mentioned that her organization has set up six regional hubs for cancer registries where they have been training, supporting the system, networking, and showing governments the use and need for cancer registers.
Ms Pineros expressed the need for partners to work with them to effectively accomplish the mission of having cancer registries in all countries.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health National Cancer Control Programme Coordinator, Lilian Genga, shared her country’s experience with cancer registries.
“The cancer registries help us to know the areas that have more cases of cancer, vulnerable populations, and are able to distribute resources in accordance with requirements,” she said.
She added that because of cancer registries, it has been established that in Kenya, cervical cancer is leading in mortalities while breast cancer is leading in incidence.
Vital Strategies Senior Technical Advisor, Dr. Htoo Kyaw Lynn, said that cancer data helps governments determine where to start their interventions.
Vital Strategies joined global leaders, partners, and technical experts to spotlight the essential role of data in building more resilient and equitable public health systems.
In her concluding remarks, Vital Strategies Managing Director, Mary-Ann Etiebet, said, “There is a lot of work, and there is a huge opportunity for different actors in the space to use cancer registries to prevent and control cancer.”
Cancer remains a leading cause of death globally, with significant disparities in incidence and mortality across different regions. In Zambia continues to grapple with a significant burden of cancer-related illnesses and deaths, with over 15,000 new cases recorded every year. Tragically, around 9,000 of these cases result in death, underscoring the urgent need for improved cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment services across the country.
The Ministry of Health in Zambia indicates that the highest burden of cancer is attributed to cervical cancer, which accounts for approximately 3,600 new cases annually. Kaposi Sarcoma follows closely with 2,400 cases, while prostate cancer contributes 1,600 cases. Breast cancer and esophageal cancer are also significant contributors, with 1,100 and 500 new cases recorded each year, respectively.
