LIVESTRONG® Global Cancer Campaign Announces Innovative Joint Commitments from Leading Cancer Institutions for Underserved Populations in Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Peru and Rwanda
Public Health Expert Dr. Paul Farmer to address LIVESTRONG® Global Cancer Summit
AUSTIN, Texas – July 30, 2009 – Today the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) announced innovative joint commitments from the world-renowned Boston, MA-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Partners In Health (PIH) in conjunction with Fundación Mexicana para la Salud of Mexico City, MX. These leading cancer institutions are working to promote global learning, exchange ideas and information, and generate and apply solutions for cancer control in underserved populations in developing countries as part of the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, an initiative to aggressively address the global cancer burden.
Lawrence Shulman, M.D., chief medical officer and senior vice president for medical affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said, “Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and its staff are dedicated to improving cancer care on a global level by partnering with other groups such as the Harvard-based Partners In Health organization, led by Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D, and Felicia Knaul’s project to improve breast cancer care in Mexico.” Through its partner commitment, Dana-Farber aims to improve cancer recognition, diagnosis and treatment for patients in Rwanda, Malawi, Haiti, Peru and Mexico. Efforts in Mexico will specifically target breast health care and efforts in all target countries will emphasize the importance of education in training the future generations of healthcare providers in underserved regions. Shulman explained, “Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is committed to working with its partners to develop paradigms for improving patient care in underserved areas of the world by both designing new treatment paradigms and developing appropriate systems for implementations of these care paradigms.”
Felicia Knaul, who lives with breast cancer, now director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative as well as a member of the Mexican Health Foundation and founder of Cancer de mama: Tomatelo a Pecho the Mexico-based initiative launched by the Carso Health Institute said, “…we are dedicated to producing evidence and promoting awareness of this issue in the developing world in the hope of generating early detection strategies that can save lives. Breast cancer is an ignored public priority.” Knaul recognizes that breast cancer is an unforeseen challenge to health, women and equity in the developing world and has ambitious goals to address it. She is coordinating an international conference hosted by several Harvard Institutions including the Harvard School of Public Health and DFCI and including delegates from around the globe, Nov 3-5, 2009. The goal is to increase evidence and awareness of breast cancer in the developing world by creating platforms for action at the regional, national and global levels; propose policy to improve early detection and treatment for breast cancer; and develop a network of sites to engage in breast cancer control efforts.
Partners In Health (PIH), a well-known non-governmental organization with a long history of success, has more than two decades of experience in delivering high-quality care, including treatment for complex chronic diseases in resource-poor settings. As a commitment to make cancer a global priority for the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit, PIH will build on its established networks of health centers, mobile clinics and community health workers to provide vaccination against HPV (Gardasil®) to 8,000 girls aged 9-14 in Haiti and Lesotho. Further, the organization will build capacity in the public health system within these two countries to administer vaccine programs and raise awareness of HPV and cervical cancer prevention. In partnership with local Ministries of Health, PIH is the primary health care provider for more than one million people in rural central Haiti and the mountains of Lesotho. In addition to strengthening comprehensive primary health care in these settings, PIH is one of the few organizations that provides treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy for cancer patients in underserved, impoverished areas in Haiti and in Africa—areas where a diagnosis of cancer would otherwise mean a death sentence.
PIH co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer will join the U.S delegation to the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit, the Campaign’s landmark event, in Dublin, Ireland, August 24-26, 2009 and address the 300 advocates selected from all over the world for their commitments to cancer control. Farmer is the Presley Professor of Social Medicine and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. With his colleagues, Farmer has pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies for AIDS and tuberculosis. His most recent book is Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor.
The LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit will make the case for urgent action to address the global cancer burden and introduce new commitments for cancer control by bringing together key stakeholders representing more than 65 countries from across the globe. The Summit will ignite a unified global movement while providing attendees the opportunity to connect with other advocates, network, gain media exposure and access tools and resources to help them mobilize in their own communities.
In September 2008, Lance Armstrong, LAF founder and chairman, cancer survivor and champion cyclist, announced the Foundation’s commitment to making cancer a global priority at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York. The LAF made this commitment after its worldwide research, conducted over 18 months, revealed widespread misconceptions, stigma and lack of awareness associated with cancer. In response, the LAF established the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign to urgently address the burden of cancer worldwide and support the 28 million people living with cancer around the globe. Cancer kills more people every year than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. It is estimated that cancer will be the leading cause of death worldwide by 2010. With such staggering statistics, the LAF recognized that a global challenge like cancer required a global movement. And so it began urging world leaders, leading cancer organizations and cancer survivors to join together by making commitments to take action in their communities to reduce the burden of cancer.
The LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign has broken new ground with successes to date in Australia, California, Mexico, Italy and, most recently at the Tour de France, where the LAF donated the proceeds from 130,000 LIVESTRONG wristbands sold in France and Monaco for €1 to La Ligue Contre le Cancer and Ecoute Cancer Reconfort. The LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign will head to the Tour of Ireland (Aug. 21-23) and the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit in Ireland (Aug. 24-26), as well as other locations to be announced. For more information on the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, please visit www.LIVESTRONGAction.org.
About the Lance Armstrong Foundation
At the Lance Armstrong Foundation, we fight for the 28 million people around the world living with cancer today. There can be – and should be – life after cancer for more people. That's why we kick in at the moment of diagnosis, giving people the resources and support they need to fight cancer head-on. We find innovative ways to raise awareness, fund research and end the stigma about cancer that many survivors face. We connect people and communities to drive social change, and we call for state, national and world leaders to help fight this disease. Anyone anywhere can join our fight against cancer. Join us at www.LIVESTRONG.org.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
www.dana-farber.org
Fundación Mexicana para la Salud in partnership with Harvard University
www.funsalud.org.mx
Harvard Global Equity Initiative
www.fas.harvard.edu/~acgei
Partners in Health
www.pih.org |
