More than 600 global oncology leaders called for an urgent and comprehensive look at ways to advance health equity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic at the 2021 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit, according to a press release.
Organized by the Union for International Cancer Control and hosted by the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the virtual summit, held Oct. 25-26, brought together global health leaders from more than 100 countries to discuss critical innovations to drive more equitable care.
Topics discussed at the summit included:
- The effect of delayed diagnoses and treatment on service delivery and future mortality
- Increasing innovation and equity
- Developments in advanced technology to prevent cancer more efficiently, detect it more quickly and treat it more effectively
"Inequities and disparities in health and care have always existed, but COVID-19 brought them to the forefront of discussions about global public health," said Cary Adams, chief executive officer of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). "We, as leaders of the cancer community, must take those experiences and use them to make cancer prevention and care more accessible and equitable."