Isabel Mestres, CEO of City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Impact in Action | Asunción: A reminder that medicines and technology matters, but systems make the impact possible.
75+ women in Asunción received their full course of essential breast cancer medicines free of charge thanks to Direct Relief and Amgen. And while this certainly helps ease the financial burden for patients, medicines alone don’t guarantee better outcomes. Both organizations understood this and partnered with City Cancer Challenge (C/Can) to leverage this opportunity and build on C/Can Asunción’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the local health system.
Donations can and should address gaps in access but they are time bound in nature which raises concerns in terms of sustainability. However, by combining those initiatives with health systems strengthening, systems can get more robust and resilient, and by consequence, benefit every woman who will need care in the years ahead.
What will stay in the system?
Through the C/Can Readiness for Access Programme, Asunción strengthened the backbone of breast cancer care across five major institutions. These are changes that remain long after the project ends:
- Pathology labs upgraded to meet quality standards
- Diagnosis times significantly reduced
- Better traceability and quality controls in place
- Pharmacy spaces modernised to ensure safe preparation of treatments
- Digital tools connecting institutions and improving coordination
- Treatment areas renovated so patients receive care in dignified spaces
Why this matters?
Asunción is a powerful reminder that access and system readiness must go together. Medicines alone rarely change outcomes. But when the right infrastructure, teams, processes, and technology are in place, those medicines can finally reach the patients who need them, safely, on time, and with quality.
Check pics Before and After!
Congratulations to all local stakeholders and C/Can Team members Rosa González León, Beatriz Hornburg, Diogo Neves, Maria F Navarro among many more, and our partners Tom Roane, Sean Lybrand, Ponda Motsepe-Ditshego, Philip Anderson.”
More posts featuring Isabel Mestres.
