Regional Strategies

PACT Model Demonstration Sites

To place cancer on the global health agenda and help low and middle income countries attract new resources, PACT, in collaboration with WHO, has launched six pilot projects within the framework of an evolving public-private partnership in Albania, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, Vietnam and Yemen. Collectively named PACT Model Demonstration Sites (PMDS), the projects are the focus of comprehensive, integrated and multidisciplinary efforts to address all facets of cancer control in each country.

The PMDS projects involve the Ministries of Health and their national counterparts, IAEA/PACT, WHO, IARC, INCTR, UICC, MDS Nordion, Best Medical and a number of other international partners. They demonstrate the advantages of systematic, cross–sector collaboration for capacity building in cancer prevention, cure and care within public health systems. Such broad-based partnerships play a vital role in mobilising new resources for health system development and the improvement of the infrastructures that support it, as demonstrated by other successful global health initiatives.

The country's national cancer control programme and related strategies and action plans, developed as a result of prior joint inter-agency need assessment missions (imPACT reviews), are embodied in the PMDS projects, which serve as replicable and sustainable regional models. The strategic objective of each model is to create the national infrastructure and capacity within the health care system to:

  • prevent those cancers that can be prevented;
  • treat those cancers that can be treated;
  • cure those cancers that can be cured; and
  • relieve pain and improve quality of life for all cancer patients.

The PMDS combine the individual strengths and resources of each partner and stakeholder to achieve maximum impact on the cancer epidemic. This integrated approach focuses on building capacity for the long-term sustainability of all relevant services via timely, planned and balanced investments across the system. It also strengthens the PMDS country's capacity to develop proposals for new funding and encourages interested donors to support such efforts.

PMDS Focus

Over the course of three to five years, IAEA/PACT, WHO and other partners will assist the national authorities in the design, funding, implementation and evaluation of each PMDS. They will provide technical expertise and support government efforts in resource mobilisation for the implementation of the national cancer control programme. Each PMDS will focus on the following areas, with special emphasis on country-specific priorities:

  1. Cancer control planning following WHO Guidelines on national cancer control programmes;
  2. Cancer registration and surveillance — collecting reliable data to reflect the real cancer burden, as well as to guide policy;
  3. Cancer prevention — controlling cancer risk factors;
  4. Cancer treatment and cure — establishing and improving early detection (early diagnosis and screening) and treatment strategies, and advocating the use of radiotherapy as an essential and integral part of effective cancer treatment;
  5. Palliative care and support — providing radiotherapy and opiates to alleviate the suffering of patients with incurable cancer; supporting families as the primary caregivers;
  6. Knowledge transfer and multidisciplinary education, training and research in cancer;
  7. Advocacy, public education, policy, legislation, financial and administrative support to strengthen the healthcare system infrastructure and capacity for the effective and successful management of a cancer control programme;
  8. Encouraging/increasing cancer society activities; fostering civil society advocacy through collaboration with NGOs;
  9. Support government resource mobilization efforts for various programme components; and
  10. Programme evaluation.

Each operational PMDS will demonstrate the feasibility, value and efficacy of multidisciplinary, interagency cooperation in combating cancer, thereby increasing understanding and expertise in cancer capacity building in low-income nations. The PMDS projects will utilize effective new funding mechanisms beyond those currently available. In particular, PACT partners’ collective expertise will be leveraged to facilitate funding for nationally approved proposals, while generating policy and public awareness until regional/global initiatives can be funded.

For details of current projects and areas where contributions or donations can be made, please write to pact@iaea.org.

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