Sudan hosts meeting on cancer programmes

The OIC General Secretariat in coordination with the Islamic Development Bank Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency will convene a meeting to review funding gaps and mobilize resources for the implementation of priority interventions in the National Cancer Control Programmes among 18 OIC Member States. 
The meeting will be hosted by the Federal Ministry of Health of the Republic of Sudan in Khartoum, Sudan on 20-22 March 2017.
Representatives of 18 OIC Member States, Development Funds including Saudi Fund for Development (SDF), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA); African Development Bank (ASFD); and International Organisations including World Health Organisation (WHO) will attend the meeting. 
The Meeting is organized within the framework of the OIC-IDB-IAEA Practical Arrangements on Cooperation in the Area of Comprehensive Cancer Control in common Member States.Worth noting that the OIC adopted its Strategic Health Programme of Action (OIC-SHPA) 2014-2023 at the 4th session of the Islamic Conference of Health Ministers held in Jakarta, Indonesia in October 2013. 
The Programme presents six thematic areas of cooperation; and cancer prevention and control is an important component of thematic area 2 "Disease Prevention and Control". the OIC General Secretariat decided to partner with the IDB and IAEA to see how to support the efforts made by the common Member States to tackle cancer, considering that health systems in many OIC Member States especially in Africa and Asia are not adequately equipped to detect and treat cancers, whereas prevention measures are either weak or non-existent in a good number of these countries. 
Furthermore, treatment for cancers is often not widely available in many OIC Member States. This situation is exacerbated further by the high cost of cancer treatment and medication coupled with the low coverage of social security and health insurance schemes.

Source: BNA