The Global Fight Against Cancer

American Cancer Society Joins Experts to Discuss Public Engagement at the Global Leadership Forum for Cancer Control

GoPublic Forum, from left to right: Steve Hildebrand, (deputy campaign manager, Barack Obama campaign), Tom Kean, (executive director, c-change), Cristina Parsons Perez, (manager, Latin America Cancer Initiatives, American Cancer Society), Jeff Rushton (founder, Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation), Pat Kelly (chief executive officer, C2CC).

The Global Leadership Forum for Cancer Control (GoPublic) took place September 23-26 in Ottawa, Canada. The event, presented by the Canadian Campaign to Control Cancer (C2CC), focused on public engagement in cancer control and best practices in the field. Cristina Parsons Perez, PhD, manager, Latin America Cancer Initiatives, American Cancer Society, together with Jeff Rushton of Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation co-chaired the steering committee for the forum. Johanna Ralston, vice president, Global Strategies and managing director, International Affairs, American Cancer Society, delivered a presentation on the Society’s global workplace initiative work and led a workshop on the subject. Parsons Perez also gave a presentation on the Society’s international work as part of the forum’s opening plenary. The GoPublic forum included high-profile speakers including: Elizabeth Edwards, cancer survivor and health advocate; Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; and Steve Hildebrand, who was deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential  campaign). Suzanne Steffens of Duke University reported on the Community Conversations that preceded the GoPublic forum, which was an effort to engage people around the world in an online dialogue about global cancer control. The American Cancer Society contributed to Community Conversations by hosting its own conversation via its American Cancer Society Global Facebook page and its Global Fight Against Cancer blog (see March 2, 2009, blog entry).

American Cancer Society Partner in Brazil Mounts Successful Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

The statue of the internationally recognized landmark Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), the internationally recognized landmark that overlooks Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is lit pink as part of the FEMAMA breast cancer awareness and advocacy campaign.

The American Cancer Society’s key collaborator in Brazil, the Brazilian breast cancer coalition FEMAMA (Federação Brasileira de Instituções Filantropicas de Apoio a Saude da Mama), has mounted a highly visible and successful breast cancer awareness and advocacy campaign for “Pink October.” As part of the campaign, important monuments throughout the country are lighted in pink as a vivid reminder of the impact breast cancer has on women in Brazil. Bob Chapman, director of Operations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM (ACS CAN), attended a reception for the highlight of this campaign: the lighting of the statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), the internationally recognized landmark atop a mountain peak overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. As an icon of both the city of Rio de Janeiro and the country as a whole, the statue’s lighting gives unprecedented attention to the cause and the lifesaving work of breast cancer nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil. While in Brazil, Chapman also helped conduct a series of advocacy trainings for member NGOs of FEMAMA. Through its breast cancer awareness campaign, FEMAMA is encouraging the public to improve breast health practices. Cancer control advocates in Brazil are celebrating the recent creation of a new law that mandates breast cancer screening for all women over 40 through the national public health care system.

American Cancer Society Staff Serve as Judges in First Tobacco Control Journalism Contest in Guatemala

 
Volunteers with Una Voz contra el Cáncer (One Voice Against Cancer) join some of the award winners at the Guatemala tobacco control journalism contest.

The American Cancer Society recently evaluated the work of Guatemalan journalists as part of the first tobacco control journalism contest to be held in the country. American Cancer Society staff Thomas Glynn, PhD, director, Cancer Science and Trends and director, International Cancer Control, and Catherine Jo, manager, International Tobacco Control, served as judges for Guatemala Libre de Tabaco 2009 (Guatemala Tobacco Free 2009). The event was organized by Una Voz contra el Cáncer (One Voice Against Cancer), a Guatemalan cancer and tobacco control group and American Cancer Society grantee. About 40 journalists and members of civil society organizations were in attendance, including members of leading Guatemalan media outlets and representatives from the Pan American Health Organization and United Nations Population Fund. Three awards were given for excellence by Guatemalan journalists in the categories of TV, radio, and written media. The cancer control group organized this event to show the importance of the media in building public awareness of tobacco control and other health issues in Guatemala.
 

American Cancer Society Sponsors, Holds Workshop at 2009 US-Africa Business Summit

 
Participants in the American Cancer Society panel discussion on cancer and other noncommunicable diseases.  From left to right:  Haskell Ward, SEACOMM; Tom Glynn, PhD, American Cancer Society; Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center; Mo Mayrides, PhRMA International Development Alliance; Michelle DeMoor, Philips Health Care. (Not pictured: Funmi Olopade, MD, FACP, University of Chicago)

 
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses the summit participants.

The American Cancer Society is proud to have sponsored a panel discussion at the 2009 US-Africa Business Summit, which was held September 29-October 1 in Washington, D.C. This biennial event, which was organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), brought together more than 1,500 leaders from the public and private sectors to explore business and investment opportunities in Africa. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a speech at the summit in which she underscored the Obama administration’s commitment to Africa and its vision of the region representing the global economic engine of the 21st century. On development issues including health, she emphasized long-term solutions, metrics, and integration with diplomatic efforts. The American Cancer Society hosted one of several health-related workshops at the summit. The workshop, titled The Changing Health Landscape in Africa and the Private Sector Response: Non-Communicable Diseases, Cancer and Chronic Conditions, brought together a panel of five leading global health experts from the public and private sectors. It was moderated by Thomas Glynn, PhD, director, Cancer Science and Trends and director, International Cancer Control, American Cancer Society. The panel of experts included Michelle DeMoor, senior director, International Policy and Government Relations, Philips Health Care; Lisa A. Newman, MD, MPH, FACS, director, Breast Care Center, and professor of surgery, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center; Mo Mayrides, director, PhRMA International Alliance Development; Funmi Olopade, MD, FACP, Walter L. Palmer distinguished service professor of Medicine and Human Genetics, University of Chicago; and Haskell Ward, senior vice president, Government Relations, SEACOM. They discussed Africa’s changing disease profile and the unique role the private sector can play in controlling the rising burden of cancer and other noncommunicable diseases on the continent.

American Cancer Society Media Awareness Workshop on Tobacco Control in Vietnam Concludes in Ho Chi Minh City

 Participants in the Media Awareness Workshop for a Smoke-free Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City

On September 19, the American Cancer Society convened about 50 journalists in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the second and final part of the Media Awareness Workshop for a Smoke-free Vietnam. This event, organized by the Society and the Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health (VINACOSH), followed the successful first part of the media workshop, held earlier last month in Hanoi. American Cancer Society experts shared experiences on writing news stories on tobacco control and other health-related topics. The experts described ways in which journalists can capture the reader’s attention and improve health awareness, especially related to tobacco use. Speakers from the Ho Chi Minh School of Public Health, National Youth Newspaper, and Ho Chi Minh Health Services Department shared their success stories on smoke-free policies in the workplace. Vietnamese journalists came away from the workshop with more knowledge on the impact of tobacco use and vowed to disseminate more information on tobacco control to the public. According to the World Health Organization, each year approximately $786 million is spent on cigarettes and 40,000 people die due to smoking-related illnesses in Vietnam.