Visitors

August 18. Dr Nour Safi, a consultant in nuclear oncology who returned to Kabul, Afghanistan, some 18 months ago to help to develop services for patients with cancer (present resources are minimal), visited INCTR to discuss the possibility of INCTR assisting in the establishment of a small cancer center in Kabul. The building will be funded by the US Army Development program through a group of humanitarian organizations working together as the Afghan Health Consortium (AHC). The cancer program is one of six different health services being managed and financed in Kabul by the AHC. Dr Safi was particularly interested in assistance with training and education of potential staff members for the new cancer center. INCTR agreed to assist Dr Safi as much as possible.

August 28. Professor Pierre Scalliet, head of the Department of Radiation Therapy at St Luc’s Hospital, Brussels, met with INCTR staff to discuss the possibility of collaborating in the area of education and training in radiation oncology. Professor Scalliet has been actively involved in such activities through the European Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Radiotherapy is an area in which INCTR has not been very active until now, but given that some 22 countries in the world have no radiation therapy facilities, and many others have malfunctioning or antiquated equipment, we recognize this as an area of need. Additional discussions are planned with Professor Scalliet.

Mr. Geoffrey Thaxter, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organizations and Founder of the Lisa Thaxter Trust, visited INCTR to discuss potential collaboration between these organizations. It was agreed that there should be a continuing dialogue with the goal of identifying areas in which collaboration would be beneficial.

A New Logo for the GACCC A new logo was designed by Claudine Meergaerts for the Global Alliance for The Cure of Children with Cancer (GACCC). This group of organizations, brought together by INCTR, has pledged to work together to improve the understanding and treatment of childhood cancer throughout the world. INCTR thanks Claudine for her generosity in providing her services free of charge, and for the excellent logo (shown here) she has created.

Meetings

Childhood Cancer in Iraq

A meeting was held at the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan, between June 18-21, to discuss the possibility of assisting Iraqi pediatric oncologists to overcome the problems they face in dealing with childhood cancer. Various cancer institutions (mostly from the Middle East, as well as the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda) and not-for-profit organizations (including INCTR), were represented, and several Iraqi pediatric oncologists attended. In the course of the meeting, Iraqi physicians provided background information regarding the problems faced, particularly in Baghdad, in treating childhood cancer, and potential solutions were discussed. A draft of a multi-phased plan to deal with both the most pressing problems and long-term needs (e.g, in training and education) was developed, which will form the basis of future endeavors.

Washington, DC.

A series of meetings took place in Washington between July 30 and August 3, involving both INCTR and INCTR’s US Branch, representatives from the Lombardi Cancer Center, the Washington Cancer Institute and several corporations and foundations. The objective was to discuss a proposal developed by Mr Raj Shah, CEO of Capital Technology Information Services, Inc., to work together, and particularly through INCTR’s international network, to provide for the needs of patients with cancer in developing countries. These meetings are likely to be seen, in the future, as a pivotal point in INCTR’s evolution, and future developments will be reported in upcoming editions of NETWORK.  

Visiting Expert in Lahore, Pakistan

Melanie Ridge, an oncology nurse from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, currently working for the Macmillan Foundation, visited the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore between August 24 and September 7, as a Visiting Expert.

Ridge went at the invitation of Virginia Gumley, Head of Cancer Nursing there, and spent time working on the wards as well as at the Day Center and at the Breast Clinic. She found the experience extremely valuable and hopes that she too was able to help in return, having been asked to advise with regard to developing a new post of “Chemotherapy Practice Liaison Nurse.”

Convention between AMCC and the Ligue Contre le Cancer  

A convention between AMCC (INCTR’s French Branch) and the French Ligue Contre le Cancer was signed in September. This will allow close cooperation between offices of the two organizations located in the Val d’Aurelle Cancer Center in Montpellier.