Global Conferences are not only conventional fora for disseminating important evidence-based information and for building productive networks; they are also essential platforms from which to tell Truth to Power. This week sees the commencement of London Global Cancer Week (Sunday 13, Friday 18 November; www.lgcw.org.uk), bringing together members of the global cancer community -'Health Professional, Patient or Other' - to share their experience, knowledge and concerns on equal terms, regardless of their country's size or wealth. Here is an excerpt from the London Global Cancer Week Press Notice released on 11 November:
For cancer patients to stand the best chance of survival they need health services to be properly funded and operating at the top of their game. Pre-requirements for this are Peace, Financial Stability and Governments that accept responsibility for the healthcare of their populations. Instead, cancer patients worldwide are facing the effects of a global 'polycrisis'.
Since last year's meeting in November 2021 we have witnessed examples of political chaos and incompetence globally, unprovoked murderous aggression fuelling global economic crises and the unchecked effects of catastrophic climate change; all of which have led to the mass movement of refugee populations and the exodus of health care professionals from regions where they are most needed. It is no wonder that Ukraine, Climate Change and Finance are key themes this year.
The same governments that have dithered over Climate Change are the ones that continue to demonstrate a lack of political will to address the global cancer pandemic in which one person dies from cancer every 4½ seconds in the low and middle income countries and 8 out of 10 of those deaths occur without any effective pain relief. In the face of such suffering the deliberate retreat of the UK government from the international development arena is particularly regrettable.
The full Press Notice can be downloaded from at https://www.lgcw.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/lgcw-2002-Press-Relea...
Mark Lodge, Convenor London Global Cancer Week 2022
Mark Lodge
Executive Director International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research
[INCTR] UK
Convenor, London Global Cancer Week
Commissioning Editor, Cancer Control 2022
Prama House
267 Banbury Road
Oxford OX 2 7HT UK
Tel. +44 (0)1865 576525
Mob +44 (0)7828 223406
Fax +44 (0)1865 339301
Email mlodge@canet.org
URL www.cancercontrol.info
HIFA profile: Mark Lodge is Director of Programme Development at the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, Oxford, UK. The INCTR is dedicated to helping to build capacity for cancer treatment and research in countries in which such capacity is presently limited, and thereby to create a foundation on which to build strategies designed to lessen the suffering, limit the number of lives lost, and promote the highest quality of life for children and adults with cancer in these countries, and to increase the quantity and quality of cancer research throughout the world. www.inctr.org mlodge AT canet.org
