City Cancer Challenge 2025 and future directions of the Union for International Cancer Control
Authors: Cary Adams, Sanchia Aranda, Sue Henshall, Anil D'Cruz
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2018)

The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) represents more than 1000 organisations in 162 countries, including the world's large cancer societies, ministries of health, patient groups, and experts in cancer prevention and control, united in a shared vision to reduce the global cancer burden, promote greater equity, and integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda. Collective action has helped cure more patients with cancer than ever before and has laid a solid foundation for sustainable impact, leaving no one behind, in line with the ambitions of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. UICC is taking a leading role in improving patient outcomes in every country by uniting its members and partners to support the translation of global cancer commitments into national action. Working together as a united network of motivated partners, including governments, city and regional leaders, civil society, UN agencies, and domestic and international businesses, we can collectively contribute concrete solutions to the global 2025 targets of a 25% reduction in premature mortality by 2025 worldwide and an 80% access to essential medicines and technologies (and indicators across cancer control), to thereby ultimately reduce the 4·3 million premature deaths due to cancer worldwide. As part of its own commitment to delivering this shared vision, UICC is spearheading two new global initiatives. On World Cancer Day 2018, UICC launched Treatment for All, which calls on the international cancer community to address the global equity gap in access to cancer services by encouraging governments to improve the provision of information, availability, and access to treatment and in-country care. Treatment for All will be a flagship advocacy campaign run by UICC with the grassroots support, expertise, and involvement of many of its key members and partners. Treatment for All will encourage countries to deliver across the four key pillars of cancer treatment and care (cancer data, early detection and diagnosis, treatment, and supportive and palliative care) through three workstreams: (1) inclusion in the health and development discourse to ensure that key global health dialogues include cancer treatment and care; (2) global activation to work alongside WHO towards the implementation of the cancer resolution; and (3) national activation to strengthen the capacity of civil society to engage with their governments and hold them accountable. The delivery of Treatment of All is closely aligned with, and will run in parallel to, C/Can 2025: City Cancer Challenge, another flagship programme that was launched in January, 2017.1Adams C Henshall S Torode J D'Cruz AK Kumar HS Aranda A C/Can 2025: City Cancer Challenge, a new initiative to improve cancer care in cities.Lancet Oncol. 2017; 18: 286-287Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (9) Google Scholar C/Can 2025 is a unique platform to improve access to quality cancer treatment and care at the city level and encourages investment in sustainable cancer services. With access to both technical and financial resources, cities are supported to strengthen their capacity, leadership, and accountability in the delivery of quality cancer care. C/Can 2025 is designed to test, learn, and scale. The C/Can 2025 global and regional teams are working intensively with four Key Learning Cities in Colombia, Paraguay, Myanmar, and Ghana that have specific challenges in providing effective cancer infrastructure to create sustainable and localised cancer solutions. Integral to the C/Can 2025 approach is that it brings together all city stakeholders (public and private) to collectively design, plan, and implement sustainable quality solutions that are tailored to local needs. At the Toronto Global Cancer Control Conference, March 1–3, 2018, we will share progress, showcase early successes, discuss challenges associated with both Treatment for All and C/Can 2025, and explore opportunities to engage in these key global initiatives. We declare no competing interests.