The official partnership between AFCRN and IARC continues. AFCRN provides the facilities and features of a “Regional Hub” for sub-Saharan Africa, as part of the Global initiative for Cancer Registration (GICR). The capacity of AFCRN to undertake this work is supported through funds received via a contract (APW - Agreement for Performance of Work). This included funds provided by The GAVI Alliance (the “Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation”) and a contribution from CDC to IARC.
AFCRN Database. As membership criteria, a new data submission, comprising a listing of case records (anonymous) from each AFCRN member, was requested in June. The database is hosted by IARC under a Research Agreement. Contributing to the database is a criteria for membership of AFCRN and most members did so. A few experiencing technical difficulties are working on the request. Access for research studies (including by IARC researchers) is via request to the AFCRN Research Committee.
Treatment and Follow-up Study. A research study Comparing therapy and outcome in cancer patients of low and middle resource settings using population-based registries , led by Dr Eva Kantelhardt, is in its final stage. The study focuses on the most frequent cancers in females and males in sub Saharan Africa, for which early diagnosis, and effective treatment, are expected to result in favourable outcomes: Breast (female), cervix, prostate and colorectal cancers, and non-Hodgkin lymphomas).
Make Cancer a Reportable Disease In collaboration with McCabe and IARC, AFCRN took initiative and searched the existing legislation and regulations from African countries, as well as from other parts of the world to try to draft a model regulation that could be recommended to member states by WHO.
SurvCan 4. This forth study of cancer survival in low and middle income countries. Data collection are ongoing in all participating centres.
Field trials of the “Essential TNM” in Harare (Zimbabwe), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) and Blantyre (Malawi) cancer registries were completed in 2016 and the results have been analysed and presented in both the IACR conference and UICC WCC in 2016. It was observed that cancer registrars with relevant oncology background knowledge did significantly better than those without. Therefore, it is considered that a new training component is needed for registrars in order to be able to stage cases using this system.
IARC conducted a “Masterclass” in December 2017, for selected registry staff to act as Trainers in future GICR courses on coding and staging. Four AFCRN-member registry staff took part. AFCRN received supports from the pharmaceutical company ROCHE to support a) the development of such a new training course, including appropriate training materials (complete); b) a tailored training courses. An additional fund from American Cancer Society allows this much needed training to include more students from our member registries.
The first course, in collaboration with the GICR team at IARC, will take place in November 2018 (Addis Ababa)
5. The Bloomberg Philanthropies - Data for Health Initiative has partnered with AFCRN to provide technical guidance to country partners and to the implementation team at Vital Strategies, and necessary trainings. The pilot country in SSA is Tanzania. The project “Tanzania National Cancer Registration Program” started in October 2017, for 18 months. The goal is to develop a national cancer registration programme for Tanzania. with the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies/ Vital Strategies, AFCRN and its consultants have conducted 3 consultancy visits, 2 training courses, 2 CanReg onsite support and provided financial support to four provincial cancer referral centres. A procedure manual and a reporting template specific for Tanzania cancer registries were prepared.
A training course on data analysis and reporting will be organised in Dar es Salaam, following the initial course in Entebbe (11-13 Oct). Also, more CanReg onsite support will be provided to the two cancer centres in Dar es Salaam.