Expert reflection on Bridging the Cancer Divide

Sir Eldryd Parry (far left), Rifat Atun, Felicia Knaul (authors of the book in Centre) Lord Nigel Crisp, Aurelia Nguyen and Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett (far right)

Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett reflects on the seminar Bridging the Cancer Divide, convened to mark the launch of a book with the same theme

“I attended the launch today of a fascinating book, Closing the Cancer Divide: An Equity Imperative. One of the editors is Imperial’s very own Professor Rifat Atun," says Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett.

"Rifat brought together experts working in the field of cancer in the developing world, including Aurelia Nguyen from Gavi; the great Sir Eldryd Parry, with his wealth of experience of healthcare in Africa; experts from Harvard University and Imperial College London, and Lord Crisp whose seminal work ‘Turning the world upside down’ highlights so many of the challenges and opportunities we face in the search for global health.

“As a newcomer to Imperial, I was struck again by the wealth of knowledge that we have here, which by working in collaboration with partners from across the world will lead to better wellbeing for so many.

“What did we learn? That massive inequities exist between low- and middle-income countries, ranging from the availability of morphine for pain management to that of vaccinations and screening for cancers arising from infections. We heard about how some tasks traditionally managed by medical staff can be carried out just as well by trained health workers, leaving scarce medical resource to be focussed on the most urgent and challenging patients’ needs. Rifat demonstrated clearly that the economic cost of investing in improvement is vastly outweighed by the economic benefits derived.

“Rifat’s co-author Professor Felicia Marie Knaul from Harvard University spoke about her own experiences of cancer and set out her vision that she describes as the diagonal approach. If you want to know more about this - and I suggest you do - then buy the book!

“Finally all of us agreed that the phrase NCDs* is yet another very unhelpful mnemnonic that perpetuates the long health tradition of using terms that mean nothing to the public and patients!

“It was a great session that showed the strength of Imperial and our partners.”

The Bridging the Cancer Divide seminar was co-hosted by the Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Imperial College Business School.

The event was arranged by Professor Atun, Professor of International Health Management and Head of the Health Management Group at Imperial College London. Professor Atun helped edit a book that addressed the same theme and was launched one week earlier: Closing the Cancer Divide: An Equity Imperative.

* Non-communicable diseases