This annual event has been specifically designed to facilitate cross-stakeholder dialogue about providing unified cancer treatment and care. Held in London at The Waldorf Hilton on November 26th 2019 – the War on Cancer Europe Summit gathered more than 170 policymakers, health-care providers, insurers, investors, scientists, technologists and patients to discuss the successes—even if at present these are small-scale—in areas of policy, regulation, investment, partnerships, systems and technology which have led to better outcomes for patients.
Featured speakers included:
HRH Princess Dina Mired, president, Union for International Cancer Control
Tanel Kiik, Minister of social affairs, Estonia
Henny Braund, chief executive, Anthony Nolan
Michelle Mitchell OBE, chief executive, Cancer Research UK
Franco Cavalli, chairman of the scientific committee, European School of Oncology
Jerome Coffey, national director, national cancer control programme, National Health Executive (Ireland)
Charmaine Gauci, superintendent of public health, department for health regulation, Malta
Mary Gospodarowicz, medical director, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Ann-Louise Ward, chief operating officer, Maggie’s Centres
Veronica Foote, head of patient relations and communications, Novartis Oncology Region Europe
Tim Jaeger, global head of diagnostics information solutions (DIS), Roche
Dr Evangelos Pappas, founder and chief scientific officer, RTsafe
Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, M.D., executive vice president and director of St. Jude Global, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Setting the scene, on the reasons to be cheerful (but not complacent), Michelle Mitchell OBE, chief executive at Cancer Research UK highlighted:
”Collaboration is crucial to accelerate progress against our mission to ensure the best outcomes for people with cancer.” Talking about teamwork and how all groups must come together to accelerate progress she said, “let’s focus on the ingredients we must have to make this more of a success.”
Discussing cancer control as a societal and economic investment, Mary Gospodarowicz, medical director at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre mentioned, “We now have evidence to show that investing in healthcare produces benefits for the economy. Investment in cancer needs to be comprehensive, otherwise you will not see the benefits if you only invest in drugs or only invest in surgery.”
Rachel Nugent, vice-president global noncommunicable diseases at RTI International added, “There are some things to be optimistic about. We have been able to demonstrate quite good returns on investment. Investment in vaccinations, tobacco control, screening and early stage treatment for cervical, breast and children’s cancer has been effective.”
On the keynote interview, HRH Princess Dina Mired shared her experience and perspective on how governments, NGOs, public and private sector should coordinate their efforts to create unified strategies to tackle cancer. She also outlined the great progress being made through the city cancer challenge initiative.
Veronica Foote, head of patient relations and communications at Novartis said, ”Digitalisation of healthcare is the great hope for us. The technology and systems are there, but the regulatory frameworks need to be in place too.”
SOURCE: The Economist Events
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