Daily wrap up - 2014 World Cancer Congress

Australia was at the centre of the global fight against cancer this month, with over 2,700 cancer advocates from 115 countries descending on Melbourne for the 2014 World Cancer Congress.

Under the banner of Joining Forces – Accelerating Progress and through plenary sessions, roundtable discussions, lively debates and symposia, critical issues, such as prevention and screening, diagnosis and treatment, survivorship and palliative care and cancer control and systems were tackled.

With a truly innovative programme that included many new additions, such as the Big Debates, The Big sCreen sessions and UICC Members’ Regional meetings, there was something for everybody to get involved in this year.

Day 1: Wednesday

The 2014 World Cancer Congress officially started on the 3rd December with the opening of the Global Village, followed by a colourful Opening Ceremony.

The 2014 edition of the World Cancer Congress introduced the Master Course concept. Over 400 registered delegates had the great opportunity to attend 12 different Master Courses, one of the best attended courses was Implementation science - principles and practice by the United States National Cancer Institute. The Master courses were very well-received overall and we look forward to develop the concept further for the World Cancer Congress Paris 2016.

The Global Village was full of exciting new features. At the BUPA health lounge, Congress participants received a healthy morning tea, enjoyed a 15-minute neck and shoulder massage, experienced health apps and took the mini-golf challenge where for every hole-in-one a donation to Cancer Council Australia was made. Cancer Australia featured an interactive photobooth and distributed free sunscreen for all everyone in each delegate bag.

The Opening ceremony featured a welcome to country ceremony, started with a Didgeridoo performance, followed by the official kickoff and welcome by the CEO of UICC, Cary Adams, and some keynote speakers including Jacinta Elston, Pradeep Philip, Mary Gospodarowicz, Ian Olver, Etienne Krug and Ian Frazer.

Day 2: Thursday

After the first morning yoga session for the week, where delegates were invited to get moving with a gentle yoga flow to prepare body and mind for a packed day of sessions, it was time for the first plenary. The theme was sustainable health systems and the keynote speakers included Laura Levit, Irene Higginson and Peter Doherty. The issues of overdiagnosis and overtreatment were addressed in what where eye opening and interesting presentations.

It was a big day for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) with the release of the Australian draft guidelines for Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) testing. The guidelines aim to address the long-standing issue of whether or not to offer men a PSA test to check for prostate cancer. At the Press Conference Professor Bruce Armstrong stated that the guidelines are designed to maximise the benefits of testing and minimise the harms, while ensuring that men and their GPs are fully informed about the risks and benefits of undergoing testing. This is the first time globally that an expert advisory panel with all key stakeholders and varying perspectives have come together for the development of draft guidelines for PSA testing. 

In a very popular session proposed by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), the topic of immuno-oncology was discussed with a panel consisting of representatives from a patients group, the University of Melbourne and BMS.

An afternoon session delivered by a global collection of panellists sought to demonstrate the importance of sexual health and understanding human sexuality and intimacy in delivering effective treatment solutions for non-sexual diseases. A workshop organised by Roche on patient wellbeing included multidisciplinary perspectives and speed networking sessions.

Novartis Oncology ran a session in the afternoon, which tackled the topic of sustainable access to innovative cancer medicine, with patient, government and pharmaceutical industry perspectives. The first Big sCreen and Big Debate sessions took place in the afternoon and Amgen hosted a group of delegates for their ‘Global Patient Groups Celebration’.

To round off the day, the powerful documentary, ‘A Day Without Cancer’, was premiered in the plenary. The 75-minute exploration of cancer’s history, poses the provocative question: “Can we conquer cancer in our lifetime?”

Day 3: Friday

Friday commenced with a rousing speech from Stephen Lewis, who presented lessons learnt from HIV/AIDS for global progress on Non Communicable Diseases. Lewis stated that cancer needs aggressive civil society advocates such as Doctors Without Borders and Treatment Action Campaign and urged the international cancer community to never let a G8 or G20 go by without NCDs being an issue, and above all, to be less polite and more aggressive. Nicola Roxon was next, and she offered insightful tips from her own experience as Australian Health Minister on how researchers, clinicians and advocates can help governments make effective policy.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) launched the all-new Cancer Atlas, which compiles 184 countries worth of research and data into a ''one-stop shop'' for cancer research. The atlas informs readers of the risk factors and economic and social burden of cancer, as well as ways to take action against it.

The day rolled on with a packed session proposed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and supported by Livestrong Foundation, which looked at the power of storytelling and entertainment education to achieve public health objectives. The panel included representatives from the entertainment industry in Australia, India and the US and in the words of Kate Folb from Hollywood, Health and society “…when people do not listen always start with once upon a time and surely they will”.

A session proposed by Bupa, saw an interactive panel including the new President-Elect of UICC, Sanchia Aranda, and Devon McGoldrick from Livestrong Foundation discuss how we can use technology to deliver sustainable models of care. Bayer’s session on patient access to optimal treatment brought together stakeholders from a range of different backgrounds to discuss the challenges and explore what can be done to overcome them.

In what was arguably one of the most captivating sessions of the day, the second Big Debate, saw experts in the field of e-cigarettes present their case for and against the argument that e-cigarettes as are a helpful tool in tobacco control and cessation. While Rob Borland from Cancer Council Victoria (CCV) made his case around e-cigarette facilitating cessation, Simon Chapman from the University of Sydney, stated that e-cigarettes should be first tested as a therapeutic substance before we looking at mass use.

One of the afternoon sessions, proposed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) centred on the issue of collaboration and patient advocacy. Ameera Binkaram from Friends of Cancer Patients joined the roundtable discussion and gave examples of how to successfully unify patients and health care professionals.

On Friday night everyone was treated to an Australian Showcase Performance, organised by Cancer Council Australia, with the Australian Girls Choir, a dance group called Kage, and CircaNICA all stunning the audience with their talents. Following the performance, many of the delegates as well as members from the public stayed for the film premiere of ‘Little Stars’, a series of breathtaking films from around the world about children’s palliative care.

Day 4: Saturday

On Saturday the doors to the Congress were open to the public for the very first time. After another revitalising yoga session run by Melbourne yoga teacher Fiona Edelstein, the last plenary session kicked off. Atul Butte presented his talk ‘Translating a trillion points of data into therapies, diagnostics, and new insights into disease’ to a packed room and receptive audience.

The last Big sCreen session for the week looked at how successful video-based awareness campaigns can be adapted for different countries and contexts. Two successful campaigns, Every Cigarette is Doing You Damage from Australia and Pouring on the Pounds from the US, were showcased, with various adaptations from Tonga and Mexico also shown and discussed.

After the closing reception, Mike Peters from Love Hope Strength along with Melbourne band The Firebird trio played an energetic set in front of delegates and members of the public. It was certainly a fitting way to finish such an inspiring few days filled with knowledge sharing and collaboration and new ideas.

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