Global Cancer Control

Cancer can affect anyone – no matter you age, race/ethnicity, or where you live. The American Cancer Society has grown past helping just those who live in the United States. We can do more to help those all around the world.

What Is ACS Global Work?

The American Cancer Society focuses its work on lower income countries and have a weaker healthcare infrastructure, aiming to work in national referral hospitals and other facilities where cancer is being treated. This initiative is focused on three main goals: preventing, treating, and supporting those with cancer.

• Preventing: The goal is to eliminate preventable cancers specifically in low and middle income countries. To effectively do this, ACS works to implement interventions that are evidence-based and underutilized. ACS also works with domestic organizations in research, advocacy, education, and communication to share resources and collaborate to create the most effective and unified front against cancer.

• Treating: ACS works to increase screening and check-ups to get cancer diagnosed earlier in addition to making high-quality and effective treatments more accessible. ACS has various partnerships with other organizations, focusing on goals such as working with pharmaceutical companies to provide affordable medications, ensuring safe administration of chemotherapy, and improving access to pain medication.

• Supporting: ACS aims to work with healthcare facilities and organizations in low and middle income countries to remove barriers in patient care in the hope of improving outcomes. ACS encourages patient-centered care through educating caregivers and patients and navigating patients through this difficult time.

Why Is Such Work Important?

Cancer exists everywhere; that’s why this fight and the work of the American Cancer Society are so important. While high income countries with firmly developed healthcare infrastructure are able to effectively treat patients, administer treatments, and distribute resources, many low and middle income countries struggle to do so. The disparity is so great that in 2020 alone, 70% of cancer-related deaths were in middle and low income countries, due primarily to the lack of application of known successful interventions in these countries. Additionally, the cancer burden is only expected to worsen with a projected 29.5 million new cases by 2040 annually. Therefore, ACS hopes to minimize this economical imbalance and mitigate this cancer burden by increasing access and accessibility of treatments, aiding in the prevention of cancer, and helping improve the quality of care for patients. To learn more about why ACS global work is so important, click here.

How Can You Get Involved With ACS Global Work?

ACS’s global health program focuses on partnering with organizations and health care facilities, distributing resources, educating caregivers and so much more. This requires funding to continue on a large scale in these middle and low income countries. As a result, donations are key in enabling this work to succeed and continue. Therefore, one way you can get involved is by donating here. You can also get involved by taking part in the Global Relay For Life. To learn more about the Relay For Life movement, you can read our previous blog found here. This movement is present in over 3,000 communities on all continents around the globe. The Global Relay For Life enables communities to connect internationally and to raise money and unite 29 different Relay For Life partners. These partners work together to cure cancer and support patients. To learn about this movement, click here.