Nirmala Bhoo Pathy, Professor at the University of Malaya and Adjunct Professor at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, shared on LinkedIn:
“When I was asked to speak on ‘Why Global Partnerships Matter in Closing the Cancer Inequity Gap’, I said yes in a heartbeat. Preparing the talk was another matter, because I soon realised I would first have to examine why we are not making more progress in closing that gap.
Many thanks to Olubukola Ayodele and Susie Stanway for inviting me to deliver the opening keynote at the closing event of London Global Cancer Week 2026 at King’s College London.
As I prepared, the one question that kept coming back to me was whether the partnerships we build are ambitious enough to change cancer inequities? While we have become remarkably good at documenting them and increasingly capable of acting on them, we seldom have a voice in the decisions that perpetuate cancer disparities.
The price of a cancer medicine for instance is shaped by decisions on trade and intellectual property, the cost of reaching treatment by transport and social protection policies, and a survivor’s return to work by labour laws and workplace policies.
These decisions are made far beyond our hospital walls and it is not easy for health systems to influence them alone. Partnerships can help by bringing evidence and other sectors to the table, while also building the diplomatic and negotiating skills this requires. And until we do, our patients will keep paying for these decisions with their savings, their jobs and sometimes their lives.
On a lighter note, thank you to all the friends who made gloomy London such fun! Now racing to the airport to get home in time for Deepaval.”
You can also read:
London Global Cancer Week 2026: Highlights From November 2-4
