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Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the partnership with Siemens Healthineers – City Cancer Challenge

City Cancer Challenge/LinkedIn

Jan 31, 2025, 08:42

Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the partnership with Siemens Healthineers – City Cancer Challenge

City Cancer Challenge shared a post on LinkedIn:

“The World Economic Forum meeting marks a significant milestone as we commemorate the 1-year anniversary of the groundbreaking partnership between Siemens Healthineers and City Cancer Challenge. Together, we’ve embarked on a mission to revolutionise cancer care in LMICs.

Over the past year, our collaboration has made remarkable strides. To mention a few:

Breast Cancer Diagnostics Coordination

– We co-developed a breast cancer coordination program in the city of Cali, Colombia to test a unified city-based solution optimising the current capacities to deliver a timely diagnosis (read more here).

– Local stakeholders guided by our sustainability partner at local level, Propacifico, have decided to expand the program to the region of Valle de Cauca.

– As of the end of October 2024, we had 401 women with suspected breast cancer identified or mapped. Of these, 73% have been able to access a biopsy. In five months, the gap in lack of access has been reduced by 15%.

Gender Equity

– In April 2024, stemming from the recommendations of the ‘Women, power, and cancer: A Lancet Commission’ publication, C/Can convened an advisory board of women across its network of cities designed to further elevate access to cancer care; address challenges experienced by the female workforce across cities; and tackle system-level barriers as unique challenges faced by women in LMICs (read more here).

– In September 2024, this work culminated in the official launch of the C/Can Gender Equity Strategy during the CGI Annual Summit in the context of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (more here).

Beyond the areas of collaboration established for our partnership, the continuous engagement between our teams has led to many collateral effects and opportunities for in-kind contribution.

Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, we’re excited to further progress on the following:

– Scaling the Breast Cancer Coordination Program in Kumasi, Ghana

– Delivering training programmes on radiotherapy across the network of C/Can cities

– Progressing further towards developing solutions based on the findings taken from IT infrastructure assessments across the C/Can network of cities

– Strengthening our gender strategy at an upcoming visit of our advisory board at Siemens Healthineers’ HQ in Erlangen, Germany in June.

Here at C/Can, we firmly believe that where you live and who you are shouldn’t determine the quality of care you receive. Our commitment to fostering innovation and accessibility in cancer care remains unwavering. We remain dedicated to support solutions that are being adapted and replicated at a national level in other countries. We drive impact from the ground-up, city by city. Because we know it works.

Join us in celebrating this partnership and its impact on global health. Together, we’re not just fighting cancer; we’re reshaping the future of care.”