by Dr Twalib Ngoma, ecancermedicalscience Editorial Board member

I was  invited to attend the  Global Health Catalyst Cancer Summit @ Harvard  Medical School  held on 21st  March 2015 in Boston. The objective of this meeting was to provide a forum for discussion, development and adoption of tangible actions that can be taken to fight cancer as well as to come up with innovative approaches to catalyse high impact international collaborations in Cancer Care, Cancer  Research, and Education in Africa.

During this meeting I was given an award  for outstanding contributions to cancer care, research, advocacy and/or education on the African continent by an individual living in Africa. My reaction as the  recipient of the award  was as follows - first I was pleasantly  surprised.  Then, I was delighted  and really  felt honoured, both for myself, my country Tanzania and for my colleagues in Africa and the Diaspora.

In my award speech  I talked about how I was drawn to the field of Oncology and then focused  on  “ International Collaborations as a strategy for reducing the disparity gap in Cancer Care, Research and Education. I informed the audience that I was drawn in to the field of oncology by events which were beyond my control – one day when I was in 4th year medical school in Dar es Salaam Tanzania I received a telephone  call  from my dad saying that he had not been feeling well over the past two months. I decided to travel to my village in the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro to see him and to convince him to travel to the University Hospital for treatment. Even as a medical student when I saw him I could make a diagnosis of cancer for he had symptoms due to gastric outlet obstruction and an enlarged  left supraclavicular lymph node.

My dad had palliative surgery and died after  twelve months. The lack of services/facilities and his very painful cancer journey, left me determined to specialise in the field of oncology so that I could contribute to improving cancer care in Tanzania. Fortunately I got an opportunity to train in Radiation Oncology in UK at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. After my training I was offered a job but  I decided not to take it because I had a mission to improve cancer care in my country. Adjusting to the working conditions in  Tanzania after seven years of working in the National Health Service in UK was not easy.  I am proud that I have done what I could do – the rest is history.

In my award speech I stressed that cancer is one of the main causes of death in Africa, it has severe consequences for economic productivity, human development and social well-being and there is great disparity in cancer care and treatment  outcomes between high income countries and Africa.    I  argued, in my speech that, for the most part, if  international collaborations using ICT platforms are promoted and maintained – this strategy can reduce the deaths from cancer  in Africa. I concluded that  with vision, commitment and successful leadership, the disparity gap could considerably be reduced by international collaboration  using ICT platforms which are already in place.  The centrality of human health and its influence on every aspect of life requires all of us to rise to this challenge.