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Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer

HRH Princess Lalla Salma greets a cancer patient.

In less than three years since its founding, the Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer (ALSC) has mobilized efforts to raise public cancer awareness throughout Morocco, launched an ambitious building campaign, organized the first national cancer registry and linked arms with an array of international partners in the fight against cancer. Inspired by the vision and leadership of Her Royal Highness, Princess Lalla Salma, the non-governmental organization is already making significant inroads in improving the quality of cancer management and ensuring that all Moroccan patients have access to a high standard of cancer care. Early detection projects in breast and cervical cancer are underway, and the ALSC oversees a program of tobacco control partnership with the Ministry of Health and business and education leaders.

The Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer aims to improve the quality of life of cancer patients by:

supporting national policy for cancer control
building and equipping oncology centers, family accommodations, hospitals and a pain and palliative care center
focusing on information, prevention and early detection
supporting patients and their families, and
supporting medical staff, training and research.

Most NGOs in Morocco focus on one specific area of cancer control, mainly on women and children, notes Maria Bennani, international cooperation manager. “ALSC comes with a systemic and global strategy that follows WHO recommendations, regarding prevention, early detection, diagnosis, screening and palliative care. ALSC along with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders are working to give an accurate analysis of cancer in Morocco and to develop the national cancer prevention and control plan.”

ALSC is developing a breast screening program for the Rabat-Sale region of Morocco. The purpose of phase I was to determine whether digital mammography and readings could be performed either onsite or at another location by electronic transmission of images via a secure website. In partnership with INCTR, in phase II, ALSC aims to screen as many women as feasible in the region. “It would be logical to develop an integrated approach to breast cancer control such that patients from specific screening centers are referred to specific hospitals for biopsy,” notes Bennani, “and biopsy-positive cases are referred to an appropriate center for treatment which, ideally, should be standardized. Both screening and treatment should be associated with outcome measures in order to determine whether the survival rate of breast cancer is improved in patients detected by screening.”

In addition to her role with ALSC, HRH Princess Lalla Salma serves as a Special Representative to the International Union Against Cancer UICC and is a Goodwill Ambassador with the World Health Organization for the promotion of prevention and cancer care. She is also an honored president of the Regional Alliance for Cancer Control and Prevention in the Eastern Mediterranean region, created in late November 2007 at Marrakech.

She considers the fight against cancer “a school of humility and a determination of collective solidarity. The fight against cancer must be given the urgency and the importance that it merits — and, now.”

Marcia Landskroener for INCTR

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		Advanced Breast Cancer in Yaounde, Cameroon: A Case Report
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