23 January 2025, Cairo, Egypt – Below the auspices of H.E. Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Well being and Inhabitants of Egypt, the Presidential Initiative on Girls’s Well being convened a high-level dialogue right this moment on the Waldorf Astoria Lodge in Cairo. The occasion introduced collectively nationwide, regional, and international leaders to handle probably the most urgent well being challenges dealing with girls within the WHO Jap Mediterranean Area – breast most cancers.
The dialogue, held alongside the seventeenth Breast, Gynecological, and Immuno-oncology Worldwide Most cancers Convention (BGICC), targeted on advancing fairness and fostering innovation in girls’s most cancers care. It builds on Egypt’s pioneering efforts made underneath the Presidential Initiative on Girls’s Well being, which has made outstanding progress in early detection, analysis, and built-in look after breast most cancers since its inception.
Breast most cancers is the commonest most cancers amongst girls within the Jap Mediterranean Area, with greater than 130 000 new instances and 52 000 deaths yearly. Egypt, with one of many Area’s highest incidence charges at 55.4 instances per 100 000 girls, has been on the forefront of addressing this problem via the Presidential Initiative on Girls’s Well being.
“Breast most cancers locations an immense pressure on each the economic system and society. The WHO funding case on girls’s cancers demonstrates that investing in early analysis and complete remedy not solely saves lives but additionally yields financial returns of US$6.4 to US$7.8 for each greenback spent. Allow us to work collectively to handle breast most cancers and take away the shadow it casts on our area. By strengthening most cancers registries, enhancing referral pathways, and specializing in complete, inexpensive breast most cancers remedy – whereas sharing finest practices with our worldwide collaborators – we will create a dignified and more healthy future for ladies.”
Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Well being and Inhabitants of Egypt.
The high-level dialogue introduced collectively stakeholders from main worldwide organizations, together with the American Society of Scientific Oncology (ASCO), Worldwide Company for Analysis on Most cancers (IARC), Worldwide Atomic Power Company (IAEA), Union for Worldwide Most cancers Management (UICC), and WHO. Collectively, they explored Egypt’s achievements in enhancing breast most cancers care and recognized alternatives for replicating these endeavours in different areas.
The occasion additionally launched the “Cairo Name to Motion for Advancing Fairness and Innovation in Girls’s Most cancers Care”, a draft doc that outlines actionable steps to reinforce equitable entry to breast most cancers interventions globally. Key priorities embody:
Selling a complete strategy to addressing breast most cancers threat elements, together with via well being promotion and early detection.
Investing in well being system growth and establishing efficient referral pathways, notably in low-resource settings, to allow well timed analysis and complete breast most cancers administration.
Enhancing entry to inexpensive analysis and remedy via localization.
Fostering regional and worldwide collaboration to enhance the documentation of excellent practices and promote south–south collaboration.
“Every of us on this room represents a necessary piece of the puzzle – from international, regional, and nationwide organizations shaping most cancers management methods to native champions and survivors. Collectively, now we have the capability to catalyse transformative motion, not just for Egypt however for your entire Jap Mediterranean Area and past.”
Dr Asmus Hammerich, Director of the Noncommunicable Illnesses and Psychological Well being Division on the WHO Regional Workplace for the Jap Mediterranean.
The Presidential Initiative on Girls’s Well being has paved the best way for different low- and middle-income nations to discover how innovation – when coupled with political will and a devoted well being workforce – can drive progress in most cancers management whereas prioritizing the wants of marginalized and susceptible girls. By addressing disparities in entry to care and fostering equity-focused approaches, each nation within the Jap Mediterranean Area can bridge gaps in well being care supply and make sure that no girl is left behind within the struggle towards breast most cancers.
“The Cairo Name to Motion represents a name for collective dedication to advancing girls’s well being outcomes, fostering collaboration, and making a sustainable, equitable future for breast most cancers care within the area.”
Professor Hesham Elghazaly, Head of the Presidential Initiative on Girls’s Well being.
The outcomes of the dialogue will inform the finalization of the Cairo Name to Motion for Advancing Fairness and Innovation in Girls’s Most cancers Care. The Name will function an inspiration and supply a imaginative and prescient for collective motion for sustaining and scaling up efforts to reinforce equitable entry to breast most cancers care worldwide, with a selected give attention to low- and middle-income nations.
