‰ Organizing a regional best practice community for the
control of cancer.
‰ Exchanging information and knowledge related to the
topic.
‰ Identifying the needs, opportunities and common
interests related to the control of cancer and searching
for alternatives that can be shared.
‰ Promoting coordination among member countries to
strengthen management and institutional development
of the region's national cancer institutes and institutions.
‰ Promoting the commitment of every countries'
corresponding levels of government with emphasis on
the availability of financial, human and legislative
resources necessary for the development of cancer
control.
The structure of RINC consists further of working groups.
These are teams of experts structured according to strategic
issues and responsible for developing and coordinating the
implementation of action plans in each of the thematic areas
identified as priorities by the Management Council (8).
Cervical cancer and breast cancer control, cancer
registries and biobanking were agreed by consensus as the
priorities for countries to address together the cancer
problem in their region. The Five Year Plan 2010-2015 of
the UNASUR Health Council was also taken into
consideration (9).
The National Cancer Institute of Brazil was assigned to
coordinate the Network and provide technical and
administrative support for the operation of RINC through an
Executive Secretariat.
Cervical cancer: A regional public health problem
The most common malignancies in Latin America are lung
(still increasing among women), prostate, breast, colorectal
and gastric cancer. Cervical cancer remains the second most
common type among women of all ages in terms of incidence
and a leading cause of mortality in the lowest income parts of
the region. Social determinants, such as poverty, low levels of
education and ethnicity lead to a disproportionate burden of
cancer on the most vulnerable populations, especially
women. With about 68,800 new cases and 28,500 deaths
(10), cervical cancer became a top priority to be addressed
by most governments in South and Central America and in
the Caribbean.
RINC's goal is to strongly contribute to reduce the
incidence and mortality from the disease by providing a
platform for technical exchange and assistance among
countries in the region to strengthen prevention
programmes. In August 2012 the Network established a
Working Group for Cervical Cancer Control composed of
experts from 13 countries. Based on an assessment of the
situation in the region, the Group has put in place five basic
projects with the following objectives:
‰ To provide evidence and technical support to reduce
access barriers to diagnosis, monitoring and treatment.
‰ To provide technical assistance and exchange knowledge
and regional experiences for the incorporation of Visual
Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIAA) and the "See and
Treat" strategy in the context of organized programmes
(HPV Test and vaccine).
‰ To provide technical support and transfer knowledge and
regional experiences to incorporate new prevention
technologies based on the HPV virus in the context of
organized programmes (HPV Test and vaccine).
‰ To strengthen registration systems, monitoring and
evaluation of cervical cancer prevention programmes (11).
RINC and IARC: A strategic partnership to deliver
changes in cancer registration
In the context of an increasing cancer burden, the
implementation of cancer control plans based on quality
information to deliver and evaluate actions is of the utmost
relevance. RINC members recognize the central role of
cancer registries in providing the evidence base for effective
strategies for cancer prevention and control, and for
government planning in the context of the political agenda
that resulted from the UN General Assembly commitment
towards a 25% reduction in the mortality from NCDs by
2025.
RINC's unprecedented initiative of setting up a Working
Group for Cancer Registries with 14 Latin American
countries was welcomed by the World Health
Organization´s International Agency for Research on Cancer
(IARC) (8). Through this initiative, a close collaboration with
IARC was started, maximizing the effectiveness of RINC's
strategy for the region. The model that has been agreed to
deliver the changes in cancer registration is structured
around the creation of a regional hub in Latin America (the
GICR-LA Hub). In 2014, the Latin American Hub was
established with a coordinating centre at the National
Cancer Institute of Argentina in Buenos Aires and a series of
contributing centres within countries in the region willing to
contribute to specific areas of expertise. Key activities of the
Hub are to provide localized training, tailored support, to
foster research and assist with advocacy and develop
networks. However, due to disparities in coverage and
quality of the existing population-based cancer registries
REGIONAL INITIATIVES
126 CANCER CONTROL 2015