The Quad Countries (US, Australia, India, and Japan) have launched a new initiative, dubbed Cancer Moonshot, to strengthen the overall cancer care ecosystem in the Indo-Pacific.
Cancer Moonshot was announced at the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit held in Wilmington, Delaware, US.
The initiative aims to improve health infrastructure, expand research collaborations, build data systems, and provide more support for cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and care.
It will initially focus on cervical cancer, which continues to be a major health crisis in the region, with plans to create a foundation to address other forms of cancer.
Cervical cancer is preventable through vaccination and can be treated if detected early.
However, it remains the third major cause of cancer deaths among women in the Indo-Pacific.
Under the initiative, Quad countries will promote human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, increase access to screenings, and expand treatment options and care in underserved areas.
The Cancer Moonshot is expected to save hundreds of thousands of lives over a few decades.
In addition, Quad countries will work together with United Nations (UN) agencies on bulk purchasing of HPV diagnostics to reduce the cost of cervical cancer screening.
Also, the partners will work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to improve access to and quality of medical imaging and radiation therapy.
Through the new initiative, Quad partners aim to implement advanced strategies to prevent, detect, treat, and reduce the impact of cancer on patients and their families.
They also intend to advance cancer research and development to increase private sector and non-governmental sector activities to help reduce the burden of cervical cancer in the region.
In the US, the Department of Defense, through the US Navy, will support an exchange of HPV vaccine experts with Indo-Pacific partners, starting in 2025.
The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence would visit India within one year to collaborate with stakeholders under its ‘Project Asha’.
In addition, the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will support the initiative.
India will provide technical assistance to the Indo-Pacific region by offering technical support for the use of its National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) portal.
The country is committed to providing HPV sampling kits, detection tools and cervical cancer vaccines worth $7.5m to the Indo-Pacific region.
Also, it is scaling up population-based screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers through its National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases.
Australia announced that total funding to the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) consortium will expand to A$29.6m ($20.2m).
Japan will provide medical equipment, such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, and other assistance worth around $27m.
Quad has also announced the efforts by certain non-government contributors to improve cancer screening, prevention, cancer care delivery, cancer research and training.
