EPIDEMIOLOGY
the range of services and expertise required, the AFCRN – Estimating the costs of cancer registration in at least
members, acting as a consortium, have the relevant capacity to three African registries, in terms of cost per case
do so. registered (in collaboration with the US Centers for
The AFCRN Hub will provide a permanent mechanism to Disease Control).
provide local support to expand and enhance cancer
surveillance for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. With respect to collaborative research projects involving
The programme of work for 2012–13 includes: external (to the Network) researchers, a research committee
‰ Extension of the Network. As of December 2012, there has been established. Requests for research collaborations
were 21 members of AFCRN (Figure 1). involving more than one member are referred to the
‰ Networking (annual review meeting, website). committee. AFRCN members forward any requests they
‰ Provision of training – two advanced courses – in Malawi receive, and the website serves to channel requests in
(Figure 2) and Nigeria, and two basic training courses (four future. l
weeks, in Uganda and Kenya) are planned.
‰ Support for registration: Dr Donald Maxwell (Max) Parkin graduated in Medicine at
– User support for CANREG-5. Edinburgh in 1968, and received a doctorate in Epidemiology
– Technical support to registries for publication of their from the same university in 1985. After working in UK, mainly
data. in health service information and planning, he moved in 1981 to
‰ Collaborative Research, includes: the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO)
– Presentation of time trends in incidence in Kampala in Lyon, France, as Head of the Descriptive Epidemiology Unit.
(Uganda) and Harare (Zimbabwe). Since 2004, he has been part time visiting senior research fellow
– Development of a model “Annual Report” for use in at the University of Oxford’s Clinical Trials Service Unit (CTSU),
African registries. and also holds part time appointments at Wolfson Institute of
– Documenting stage at diagnosis of breast and cervix Preventive Medicine (Queen Mary University, London), and at
cancers (in collaboration with the American Cancer IARC Lyon.
Society). Dr Parkin’s main research interests are in descriptive
– Calculation of 3 and 5 year relative survival of breast, epidemiology (international cancer patterns and trends), with a
cervix, oesophagus and prostate cancers in four East major concern for cancer registration, and in cancer prevention
African registries. and control. He has published more than 300 papers in the
– Developing protocols for methods of estimating international literature.
completeness of registration appropriate to cancer
registries in Africa.
References
1.
Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Vol. IX. IARC Scientific Publications No. 160,
Prevention and Control of Non- communicable diseases. Lyon, IARC, 2007.
http://www.who.int/nmh/events/un_ncd_summit2011/political_declaration_en.pdf 7.
Parkin DM. The evolution of population-based cancer registry. Nat Rev Cancer 2006;
2.
Danaei G, Vander Hoorn S, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, Ezzati M; Comparative Risk 6: 603–12.
Assessment collaborating group (Cancers). Causes of cancer in the world: 8.
Parkin DM, Sanghvi LD. Cancer registration in developing countries. In: Jensen OM,
comparative risk assessment of nine behavioural and environmental risk factors. Parkin DM, MacLennan R, et al, eds. Cancer registration: principles and methods.
Lancet. 2005 ;366:1784-93. IARC Scientific Publications no 95. Lyon: International Agency for Research on
3.
World Health Organisation (2002) National cancer control programmes. Policies and Cancer, 1991: 185–98.
managerial guidelines, 2nd edn., WHO, Geneva 9.
Valsecchi MG & Steliarova-Foucher E Cancer registration in developing countries:
4.
Parkin DM. The role of cancer registries in cancer control. Int J Clin Oncol (2008) luxury or necessity? Lancet Oncology (2008) 9, 159-167
13:102–111 10.
Parkin DM, Ferlay J, Hamdi-Chérif M, Sitas F, Thomas JO, Wabinga H & Whelan SL.
5.
Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin DM. Estimates of worldwide (eds) Cancer in Africa; Epidemiology and prevention. IARC Scientific Publication No.
burden of cancer in 2008: GLOBOCAN 2008. Int J Cancer. 2010 Jun 17. 153. Lyon, IARC, 2003 (available online at http://www.iarc.fr/en/publications/pdfs-
6.
Curado MP, Edwards, B, Shin HR, Storm H, Ferlay J, Heanue M and Boyle P, eds online/epi/sp153/index.php)
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