Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA
One of the health centres visited by the imPACT Review team was the Donka hospital in Conakry, Guinea. (Photo: M. Nobile/IAEA)
“Cancer control is a priority for the WHO Country Office in Guinea and, in order to ensure a comprehensive approach, we will integrate the recommendations put forward by the imPACT Review experts into the biennial Plan of activities 2024-2025,” stated Jean Marie Kipela, WHO Country Representative.
At the end of the mission, experts from the imPACT Review team presented their key recommendations to the Ministry of Health. The findings stem from an initial period of data gathering and analysis, corroborated by the exchanges and visits that took place over the course of the weeklong mission. The recommendations included the need to integrate cervical cancer screening into the essential health care package on offer to public patients; reinforcing diagnostic services by equipping regional hospitals with mammographs and CT scanners; developing teleradiology (a technology which enables radiological patient images to be shared between doctors based in different hospitals); and setting up an integrated centre for cancer diagnosis, treatment and research.
Following the imPACT Review, a three-day workshop was organized by the Ministry of Health, with WHO assistance, to draft a National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP). This plan will guide all future national efforts in terms of cancer prevention, management and monitoring in the country, aiming to reduce the challenges faced by patients in accessing cancer care and improve coordination between government institutions, the private sector and civil society organizations. It also seeks to re-establish and formalize the cancer registration system that was created in 1992, in order to enable the Ministry of Health to track the impact of cancer control efforts and spending on rates of cancer incidence.