A statement signed by Mr Paul Opoku Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ACO and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the invitation for membership into UICC was in recognition of the organisation’s dedication towards the control efforts of the disease in Africa.

In a welcome address, Mr Cary Adams, the CEO of UICC said the ACO was joining the international Cancer fighting fraternity at the appropriate time as the UICC was strengthening its efforts on delivering a suite of capacity building services to make its members more competent for the fight against the disease.

“We entered 2016 with strong foundations following the inclusion of a target to reduce non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, he said. 

“This is a new era of international development and an opportunity for UICC to work together with our members to combat cancer”, he added. Mr Opoku Agyeman, thanked the UICC for the membership and said the collaboration was timely as the ACO was transforming itself into a digital health and cancer organisation “with deep knowledge to optimise cancer control in Africa using data analytics to promote prevention, advocacy and research”.

He gave an assurance that the ACO would utilise its membership by exploring all areas of the cancer control continuum to help transfer knowledge, skills and several years of experience from well-developed structures while adapting them for improved implementation in Africa.  

“Such efforts will give ACO the needed leverage to promote its cancer information service, comprehensive screening, cervical cancer control, cancer registries and needs assessment programmes being developed”, Mr Opoku Agyeman said.

He called for public support in the fight against the disease  and added that the time had come for every individual, business and the government to put resources together to not only help more Africans prevent cancer but also diagnose cancers at an earlier stage where cure was often possible.

UICC is the largest cancer fighting organisation with its priority areas of work shaped by the World Cancer Declaration which aims to reduce global cancer burden by 2025.   UICC is committed to delivering the targets by taking the lead in coordinating high-impact global capacity building projects – when there is an identified need for an international approach, working with partners across all continents.        

Other actions of UICC include putting cancer on the global health and development agenda through an advocacy by encouraging global leaders to make the strongest possible cancer control commitments.  It also seeks to help with the implementation and hold them accountable for the promises they have made at a global level whiles uniting the cancer control community through global events and initiatives.