This is a very brief summary of the ideas discussed with participants during the first meeting of the PAFNCD Women’s Cancer Initiative, for a joint plan of work. The ideas are grouped into the main areas of work of capacity building and increasing access to services (for breast cancer and for cervical cancer); communications and advocacy; and operational research.

"Women’s Cancer Initiative: A joint commitment to save lives"
First Meeting of the PAFNCDs Women’s Cancer Initiative
Dr. Carissa F. Etienne
Director
Pan American Health Organization
Washington, D.C.

"Breast cancer prevention: what is known and gaps in knowledge"
Isabelle Romieu, MD, MPH, ScD
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Lyon, France

"Multicentric study of HPV testing screening and triage (ESTAMPA)"
Rolando Herrero
Head, Prevention and Implementation
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Lyon, France

"Engaging women's groups for social mobilization in the Americas"
Cristina Parsons Perez
ACS
Bertha Aguilar - Fundación CIM*AB/ULACCAM
American Cancer Society

"Health financing strategies for breast and cervical cancer in LAC"
Fernando Lavadenz
Senior Health Specialist
World Bank LCSHH
Washington, D.C.

"BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER IN THE AMERICAS: Situation Analysis and Way Forward"
Silvana Luciani
Area of Health Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control
Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization
Washington, D.C.

"Women’s Cancer Initiative: A joint commitment to save lives"
Dr. Irene Klinger
Manager, External Relations, Resource Mobilization and Partnerships
Pan American Health Organization
Washington, D.C.

"New guidelines for cervical cancer prevention and control"
Dr Nathalie Broutet
Reproductive Health and Research Department, WHO

Benjamin O. Anderson, M.D.
Chair and Director
Breast Health Global Initiative
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Professor of Surgery & Global Health Medicine
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

Cervical cancer is responsible for approximately 80,000 new cases and 35,000 deaths each year in the Americas. It is the second leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality among women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

There are more than 85,000 new cases and 75,000 deaths from stomach cancer each year, in the Americas.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the Americas, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. There are more than 300,000 new cases and 75,000 deaths each year in the Americas.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality in the Americas in both men and women. Approximately 240,000 new cases and 95,000 deaths from colorectal cancer occur each year in the Americas.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the Americas. There are more than 300,000 new cases and more than 80,000 deaths from breast cancer annually in the Americas.

Leukemias and brain and central nervous system cancers are the most common types of childhood cancers. Leukemia accounts for about 1/3 of cases and acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common leukemia.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the Americas. In 2008, cancer accounted for 1.2 million deaths. About 45% of the cancer deaths occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Our knowledge about the prevention and treatment of cancer is increasing, yet the number of new cases grows every year. If the trend continues, 16 million people will discover they have cancer in 2020, two-thirds of them in newly-industrialized and developing countries.

The meeting consisted of presentations, discussion sessions in which all attendees participated, and working groups. More than 80 professionals from nine Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru) attended, including managers of the cervical and breast cancer programs, together with leading experts in the prevention and control of these cancers.

The burden of breast cancer, as well as the management and organization of breast cancer (BC) care in 18 countries [Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK] was presented recently in a global report titled “A Review of Breast Cancer Care and Outcomes in 18 Countries in Europe, Asia and Latin-America”

The report reviews the results of cohort studies and controlled trials on diet, nutrition, physical activity and breast cancer published from Jan 2006 till Dec 2007. The number of reports included is 100, from which 1 is a randomised controlled trial, 74 are reports based on prospective cohort designs, 4 are historical cohorts, 1 report has a case cohort design, and 21 are case-control studies nested in cohorts.

The proposals that cancer might be preventable, and that food, nutrition, physical activity, and body composition might affect the risk of cancer, were first made before science emerged in its modern form in the 19th and 20th centuries.