Today in Ottawa will open Go Public - the Global Leadership Forum on Cancer Control.
The conference is a sobering reminder that cancer is truly a global challenge. This year, there will be an estimated 12.9 million cases of cancer diagnosed and 7.1 million cancer deaths.
Cancer has long been viewed as a disease of the wealthy, in large part because life expectancy in high-income countries is so much higher and cancer is principally a disease of aging.
But that is changing. One in eight deaths in the world is now the result of cancer. More people die of cancer each year than the much-discussed scourges HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
Globally, cancer costs an estimated $286-billion (U.S.). Half that amount is spent on medical costs, one-quarter on non-medical costs such as caregiving and one-quarter is productivity losses.
Worldwide, about $19-billion goes to cancer research each year. The progress in prevention and treatment has been steady and impressive, but cancer is still winning.
In Western countries such as Canada, cancer is discussed fairly openly. People talk about their cancer Treatments as readily as they sport a pink ribbon. But that is a relatively new phenomenon.
A couple of decades ago, the C-word was something about which we whispered, not screamed. It was a private, shameful affliction. There was a time, not that long ago, when a physician would not bother telling a woman that a cancerous tumour was found in her breast - though he might slip a word to her husband - because there was nothing much that could be done.
The cancer-equals-death attitude still exists in much of the world and not entirely without reason. In low- and middle-income countries where there is little or no screening and access to health care is limited (because of everything from limited resources to cost), cancer is often detected in advanced stages.
In those circumstances, it is a death sentence and the talk of "cancer control" that predominates in the wealthy West rings hollow.
The Go Public initiative, nonetheless, has set itself an ambitious goal, to cut cancer deaths around the world by half within a generation.
It hopes that the lessons from countries such as Canada - where we have learned that about 40 per cent of cancer cases can be prevented and up to one-third can be cured with prompt detection and treatment - can be applied globally.
But that is not going to happen if the stigma and silence about cancer persists.
That is why Go Public - a collaboration between the Campaign to Control Cancer, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the International Union Against Cancer - has placed so much emphasis on, well, the public. By placing the focus squarely on raising awareness, Go Public believes it can forge an international cancer movement and spur action.
This approach was effective in Canada, where the myriad cancer groups - which, let's be honest, often work at cross-purposes - united their efforts to form the Campaign to Control Cancer. This group (and others), in turn, pushed for a national strategy.
In November, 2006, the federal government created a non-profit, arm's-length agency, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, and provided $260-million (Canadian) in funding over five years to develop and implement a strategy.
The partnership has a vast mandate that includes reducing the number of cancer cases, enhancing the quality of life of those affected by cancer, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of cancer control.
It's hard to see those big-picture achievements in the short term but the knock against the partnership is principally that it doesn't have a public face, nor has it engaged patients and their family members at the grassroots level.
That is the void that Go Public is trying to fill, both in Canada and internationally. The group's basic belief is that conversation is the starting point for action.
Today, Go Public will release the findings from a global focus group, where thousands of people in 20 different countries provided their views on how to improve cancer control.
While one cannot presume what will be in the report, there is no doubt that the public - and cancer patients and their families in particular - have a wealth of knowledge that should be tapped into.
Providing people with a forum to tell their stories and offer their opinions should be an integral part of our health-care systems. And while story-telling is important, listening to those stories and implementing the practical recommendations for improvement is essential.
Yet, in our health-care systems today - from the poorest of developing countries through to the wealthiest developed ones - professionals still tend to talk to patients, not with them.
The patient rarely, if ever, has a meaningful role in their care or any real power in the health system.
The public and patients rarely have a voice.
It is time for a meaningful conversation to begin - and where better than on the topic of cancer?
To join the conversation about cancer, visit:controlcancer.ca
