Global Health Catalyst (GHC) Summit

Project Summary Recently, leaders in cancer policy from the USA and 14 economically diverse countries concluded that successful campaigns to control cancer will increasingly depend on concerted international collaborations. The recent World Health Organization Cancer Report highlights urgency for such

international collaborations, with over 60% of 14 million new cancer cases and 70% of 8.2 million deaths per year occurring in low and middle income countries (LMIC), some of which, sadly, are the least capable of dealing with cancer without some form of collaboration. These major disparities in cancer deaths are in part a reflection of poignant underlying disparities in Radiation

Oncology. For example, radiotherapy, which is needed in the treatment of over 50% of cancer patients, is not available in about half of Africa's 54 countries, and preliminary research shows major safety concerns in implementation of radiotherapy where available. The overall goal of this proposal is to organize yearly global health catalyst (GHC) cancer summits designed to catalyze

high impact international collaborations between US and African Institutions to address the growing global burden of cancers, and associated disparities. This GHC summits, will build on the success and lessons learned over the past years during previously organized summits, that have catalyzed collaborations to support cancer healthcare institutions in different African

countries, supported education and training efforts to build human/research capacity, and established fecund research collaborations, along with disease prevention and advocacy programs in global oncology. An innovative component of the summit is the focus on outreach engagement of under-represented minorities and the resource-laden Africans in Diaspora (AiD)

to turn the devastating effects of brain drain to gain against cancer. Outcomes will include: new and strengthened collaborations involving partners from both USA and African institutions each year, significant increase in participation of under-represented minorities and diaspora in global oncology, peer-reviewed publications co-authored by both USA and African collaborators, joint

patents resulting from research collaborations, and continuous growth to engage more participation from USA and African Institutions to address the growing global burden of cancer and associated disparities.