Science, the UICC and Global Cancer Control
The International Union Against Cancer (UICC) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that is devoted solely to the global control of cancer. Its membership is worldwide, as befits an organisation with global aspirations, but this membership is unevenly distributed. Most of its members are based in the wealthy developed countries of North America, western Europe, Australasia and Japan, and it is they who provide the bulk of UICC's financial support. In contrast, a number of developing countries in South and Central America, eastern Europe and Asia are not represented in the UICC, and only a minority of countries in Africa have UICC members.
During the past few years, UICC has been reviewing its objectives in order to put its limited funds to best use in the global fight against cancer. A new strategy focuses resources where they are most needed; however, this raises concern that members in developed countries, where the need for UICC resources is less, might consider that UICC membership is of decreasing relevance to them. Many of these members are conducting research or delivering cancer services that are well resourced and at the leading edge of their scientific fields, and the activities of UICC might appear to be of little mutual benefit. In this short article, I argue that this is emphatically not the case and that first-rate science informs and enables cancer control and, in return, is nurtured by this process. In other words, the UICC needs organisations in the developed world, and these organisations can gain significant benefits from UICC membership.