The ICCP was formed in 2012 and this is a group of international cancer control organisations that were working in cancer control planning and other aspects of cancer control as well. They performed particularly to collaborate and coordinate their resources to leverage, synergise, maximise their collective resources to come together and work in international cancer control planning. It’s very important for countries to have a cancer control plan. Countries often have a cancer control goal but without a well thought of cancer control plan having a goal is just a wish. So the vision of the International Cancer Control Partnership is that every country will have a national cancer control plan that is well resourced, well coordinated and evidence based and that links up with their non-communicable disease plan.
How can people working in cancer control take advantage of the work of the ICCP?
The International Cancer Control Partnership can offer many things to people working in cancer control planning. The partnership has developed a one-stop shop web portal that has a huge amount of resources. It includes a database of searchable cancer plans and also very specific guidance of how people and countries, individuals interested in working in cancer control planning and implementation efforts can contact any member of the partnership and get technical assistance. So there’s a process there but the website does offer the guidance of how individuals can contact and reach the partnership for guidance.
What is the role of the CDC?
The CDC is a leader in cancer control in the United States. As you may know or may not know, the United States does not have a national cancer control plan and, as such, CDC has been a key leader in helping all states, many tribes and the US associated territories to plan, develop and implement jurisdiction specific cancer plans. So currently CDC has helped develop 69 cancer plans and so CDC is very much a leader in helping the cancer control planning process.
Internationally CDC has also worked with the partnership in supporting partnership efforts. CDC has supported the partnership in planning and implementing the international cancer control planning master course which culminated in a workshop here at the World Cancer Congress. CDC has also provided a number of resources to support the partnership web portal and, on a more international basis, CDC also has helped several countries develop their cancer plans, including Mexico; we’re currently working with Uruguay to help evaluate their cancer plan. CDC also has a partnership with Emory University in Atlanta to convene and implement a global cancer course for graduate students and potential students from developing countries who are potential leaders in health can attend this course and take advantage of this level of instruction. CDC also has supported the partnership in the regional cancer control leadership forums that have been implemented recently, particularly in Central America, and people can take advantage of these leadership forums that will be implemented again to understand the process of cancer control planning.
Finally, to take advantage of what CDC does in international cancer control planning, we advise you to contact the International Cancer Control Partnership at www.iccp-portal.org or visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov and at the search icon put in ‘comprehensive cancer control’ where you will get a much deeper understanding of what comprehensive cancer control is about, the types of tools and resources that are available to you and also how you can get access to CDC and very specific tools that we’ve offered our states, tribes and territories and now we offer the international cancer control community.
We work a lot with tribes and territories, we’ve supported them financially, we’ve supported them with technical assistance. We are very aware of their disparities, we have particular training for the tribes, we have had tribal summits to propone their cancer control efforts. So, yes, CDC does support the tribes very much and also the US associated Pacific island territories.
