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VIENNA / CANCER TREATMENT
STORY: VIENNA / CANCER TREATMENT
TRT: 2:13
SOURCE: IAEA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: JULY 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / FILE
1. Wide shot, IAEA headquarters
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Massoud Samiei, Head of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT):
“In developing countries access to radiotherapy is very limited. And overall, around 40 percent of the patients have access in Latin America, in Africa is less than 20 percent, and in Asia is also around 40 percent of patients have access to radiotherapy. We estimate that there is a shortage of around 7,000 radiotherapy machines at the current level of cancer that is prevailing in developing countries.”
FILE – 2010, KENYA
3. Med shot, patients waiting in Hospital
4. Med shot, female patients waiting in Hospital
JULY 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Massoud Samiei, Head of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT):
“The main problem is that countries do not have the resources to buy the equipment. The cost of equipment currently is high and is not within the budget available to many ministries of health. And even if they have plans, they will not be able to acquire all the equipment they need.”
FILE – 2010, KENYA
6. Various shots, patient undergoing radiological treatment
7. Close up, Oncologist reviewing cancer data at Hospital in Kenya
JULY 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Massoud Samiei, Head of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT):
“Our initiative is basically trying to encourage manufacturers to simplify their designs, to make such designs more affordable, more suitable to the conditions of developing countries.”
FILE – 2008, VIETNAM
9. Med shot, cancer patients
10. Med shot, patients waiting at hospital corridor
11. Med shot, patient undergoing radiological treatment
JULY 2010, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Massoud Samiei, Head of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT):
“Currently, a complete package for a developing country would cost three, four million dollars in terms of equipment required to set up a radiotherapy clinic. And we have now asked them to think about a one million dollar package. : A package that will include all the essential equipment and components but will cost only one million dollars, at today’s prices And I am very pleased that we have received positive offers from at least two manufacturers who are looking into such a package and very soon they are hoping to put it in the market.”
FILE – 2007, HAITI
13. Med shot, patients waiting in Hospital
14. Med shot, oncologist looking at X-rays
15. Med shot, piles of medical history forms and hospital crowd
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the number of cancer cases is rapidly growing globally. Cancer now kills over eight million people a year, with three-quarter of these deaths occurring in developing countries where the resources needed to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer are severely limited or nonexistent.
IAEA’s Massoud Samiei said only “around 40 percent of the patients have access in Latin America, in Africa is less than 20 percent, and in Asia is also around 40 percent of patients have access to radiotherapy.”
The problem is at its worst is sub Saharan Africa, where 80 percent of the continent’s one billion inhabitants live without proper access to basic radiotherapy and related cancer services.
Samiei noted that “the main problem is that countries do not have the resources to buy the equipment. The cost of equipment currently is high and is not within the budget available to many Ministries of Health.”
Now the IAEA’s Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) has launched a new initiative that calls on manufacturers of diagnostic and radiotherapy technologies to produce equipment that’s more affordable and suitable for the challenging conditions in the developing world.
This project is supported by an “Advisory Group on increasing access to Radiation Therapy” (AGaRT), which brings together radiotherapy users such as doctors, physicists and medical staff from low and middle-income countries, radiotherapy suppliers and international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a part of the project, IAEA is asking manufacturers to create radiotherapy equipment packages for one million dollar package instead of costing three to four million dollars. Samiei added that the agency has “received positive offers from at least two manufacturers who are looking into such a package and very soon they are hoping to put it in the market.”
Over the next few years, this project is expected to develop integrated solutions to provide radiation technology safely, affordably and effectively to developing countries.
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