23rd January, Dr Parkin, accompanied by Prof Henry Wabinga and Ms Sarah Nambooze from Kampala Cancer Registry, visited the Gulu Cancer Registry, based in St. Mary Hospital, Lacor. The aim of the visit was to meet with the new registrar (Francis Okongo) and evaluate the quality of data. Despite the delay of funding, the registry is doing reasonably well. The registry was then benefited from one on-site training (by Sarah Nambooze) and one basic training course in Nairobi, Kenya, later during the year. The evaluation team (editors from UK, Nairobi and Kampala) received a more completed set of data in September, and, after review, it was agreed that the registry met the most of the membership criteria of AFCRN, and that provisional membership should be awarded. The Gulu Cancer Registry was admitted to membership in November.

19-20th February, Dr Parkin, accompanied by Mrs Biying Liu, visited the cancer registry in Cotonou, Benin. Dr Freddy GNANGNON (Programme National de Lutte Contre les Maladies Non Transmissibles), the supervisor of the registry arranged and accompanied a list of visits to hospitals and pathology labs in Cotonou. He explained the situation and plan for the registry. The registrar M. Egue Marcel, who has attended two AFCRN training courses in the past, was able to submit the data of the first 18 months of registration, as well as the principal sources of information of the registry during the visit. The quality of data was considered to be good enough to meet the criteria for AFCRN membership, and an invitation was sent to Prof AKELE-AKPO Marie Therese, who is formally responsible for the cancer registry. The invitation has been accepted.

20th-25th April, Dr Parkin, in collaboration with NIH-NCI USA, visited three cancer registries in Kenya: Nairobi, Eldoret and Kisumu. The former two are members of the Network. The aim of the visits was to identify the need for future development and the source of support. Dr Rosemary Rochford is supporting the development of cancer registration in Kisumu. She requested training support from the Network, and Mr John Oyombe attended the training course in Addis Ababa in August (see above).

Following an invitation from Mr Eric Chokunonga, Dr Parkin visited Bulawayo cancer registry from 23-26th June. The registry is the second population-based component of the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry. It is supervised by Dr Samkeliso Vuma, Head of Department of Radiotherapy. Mr Eric Chokunonga, the registry manager of the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry, oversees the activities and data management. After the evaluation, a membership invitation was sent to the team for their consideration.
Following the visit, Dr Parkin managed to retrieve from the archives at IARC the data of the Bulawayo cancer registry for the period of 1963-1977. After some re-coding, this old dataset was available for import into CanReg. Research paper(s) will be prepared.

27-29th June, Dr Parkin visited Dr Dzamalala at the Malawi Cancer Registry, Blantyre, Malawi. The most urgent requirement for the development of the registry is to recruit a new data collector, in addition to the current single staff member.

30th June – 4th July, Dr Parkin visited Dr Richard Nsakanya at the Zambia Cancer Registry, Lusaka, Zambia. The Lusaka population-based registry is being developed under the agreement between AFCRN/UICC/the Zambian Government, to provide the first accurate incidence data as part of the cancer control planning process. After the evaluation, it was considered that since the registry was population based for Lusaka city, and achieving >50% coverage of the target population, provisional membership of AFCRN could be awarded, provided the registry management was ready to comply with the other membership criteria. The registry became a member of AFCRN in August 2015.
The registrar (Mr Severin Zulu) attended the AFCRN Addis Ababa advanced course, sponsored by UICC.

27-30 September, Dr Parkin visited the Mali Cancer Registry (Registre des Cancers du Mali). The registry is one of the oldest cancer registries in Africa. Dr Parkin met with the local team (pictured on the right). The quality of data is considered to be reasonably good despite of quite marked fluctuations in the number of cases from one year to the next. The registry was strongly recommended to take on at least one permanent staff. The Registre des Cancers du Mali has become the latest member of the Network.

7-8th December, Dr Parkin visited the Kumasi Cancer Registry to see if the recommendations made by Mr Eric Chokunonga in February this year (see below) had been implemented; and the training received by the two registrars has made any effect on their work. Although the incidence rates are still low, there have been clear improvements. But an effort must be made to identify other important sources of information to improve the quality of data. Following this visit, on 9th December Dr Parkin visited the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Cancer Registry. It was disappointing to see that few recommendations from previous visits have been implemented. Proper training for staff is urgently needed.

Mr Chokunonga, as AFCRN Consultant, visited the Kumasi Cancer Registry (current member) and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Cancer Registry from 9-13th February. The aim of the visit to Kumasi registry was to evaluate registry procedures and provide recommendations as to how it might improve performance in the following 12 months. At the time, the number of cases registered was much less than half of that expected. A follow up visit by Dr Parkin took place in December (see above).
The aim of the visit to the KBTH cancer registry was to discuss the possibility of establishing a population-based cancer registry in the very large city, Accra. The conclusion was that, as the first step, the registry should aim to collect all cancer cases from the KBTH. Once fully covered, it may look into the requirements for the expansion to be a PBCR.

Following an invitation from Dr Cesaltina Lorenzoni (Especialista em Anatomia Patológica Mestre em Saúde Pública) in January 2015, AFCRN contracted Dr Goncalo Lacerda (Registo Oncológico Regional dos Açores) as our consultant to visit the Beira Cancer Registry and the registry at the Central Hospital in Maputo (8-12th June). The aim of the visit was to evaluate the development of the two registries and provide his expert opinion on their situation and status. Dr Lacerda helped improve the quality of the data for the Beira cancer registry so that their data were able to meet the criteria of the AFCRN Database and can be used for future research collaborations. With respect to the registry in Maputo, a list of recommendations was made. Although it is performing well as a new population-based cancer registry, it still has a few tasks to complete in order to meet all the criteria of AFCRN membership. A follow up visit is proposed for the first half of 2016.

Dr Lacerda was invited to Cape Verde to help with a course on coding with ICD-O-3 and CanReg. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to undertake a formal consultancy to evaluate the feasibility and requirements of cancer registration in Cape Verde. It was considered that, with appropriate support and modest resources, a national population-based cancer registry is a feasible option for the country.