Each workshop has plenary and focused working group sessions with local and external experts. Outside experts often visit local institutions, organizations, or departments relevant to their specialty in order to assess available resources. Thematic workshops are associated with specific outputs, such as plans to overcome identified obstacles or to establish educational programs for health workers, or the production of manuals specifically designed for the country or region. Workshop reports may be a valuable aid to the national cancer control committee in developing national priorities and action plans.

Cancer Control in East Africa

INCTR held its first thematic workshop jointly with the IAEA/PACT at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in August, 2007. The purpose of the workshop was to identify problems or obstacles within each of the thematic areas, all of which were related to diagnosis and treatment, in East Africa in general, and Tanzania, in particular, and to propose feasible solutions that might be implemented with or without the need for additional resources. The themes of the workshop included: Access to Care, Histopathology, Supportive Care, Transfusion Medicine and Palliative Care. Each theme was introduced in a plenary session held, on the first day, by an East African health professional. Visits to departments or other hospitals relevant to the thematic area were also conducted on the first day. The second day was devoted to group discussions in each of the thematic areas. On the final day, rapporteurs provided summaries of the group discussions and these were followed by general discussion and final conclusions. A report of the workshop entitled, "Cancer Control in East Africa" was published in Vol 7, No 3, Special Issue of Network. A follow up workshop was held in Tanzania in January, 2009.  The objective of this workshop was to assess progress and to develop future plans in the thematic areas of access to care, pathology, supportive care and palliative care.  

Support for the workshops was provided by IAEA and by the Office of International Affairs, NCI.

Focused Workshop on Breast Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

This workshop on breast cancer was held in Cairo, Egypt in December, 2008 in the context of a larger meeting devoted to cancer control. This meeting was held jointly with the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WHO and the Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer.  The purpose of the meeting was to identify obstacles to effective breast cancer control, to propose feasible solutions, including education and training tools, to discuss methodologies and resource requirements and to plan for the implementation of demonstration projects.  Plenary sessions were followed by working group sessions. A report of this workshop entitled, “Intercountry meeting for adoption of the regional cancer control strategy and development of national work plans” was published by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in 2009 (document WHO-EM/NCD/062/E/07.09/83).