Cancer and Universal Health Coverage: The 2019 World Cancer Leaders' Summit

Jayasree K Iyer, Executive Director of the Access to Medicine Foundation will join a panel discussion at the 2019 World Cancer Leaders' Summit on 16 October in Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan.

The World Cancer Leaders' Summit is an annual high-level policy meeting dedicated to influencing global decisions which impact cancer control. The event brings together 350 key decision makers from around the world and encourages timely debate on emerging global issues related to cancer.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Cancer and Universal Health Coverage’. Cancer is taking an increasing toll in low- and middle- income countries, where more than half of deaths due to cancer now occur. Reducing the number of premature deaths caused by cancer requires addressing inequities in access to cancer services to achieve the UHC vision of health for all.

Jayasree Iyer will take part in the panel discussion ‘Is cancer treatment too expensive for UHC?’ She will share findings from the 2018 Access to Medicine Index, which examined 20 leading pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to increase access to cancer products. Explore the key finding on access initiatives for cancer products here.

The World Cancer Leaders' Summit is organised in partnership with three UN agencies: the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).