To support practitioners in the region, NCCN collaborates with the African Cancer Coalition (ACC), American Cancer Society (ACS), and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to create the NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for Sub-Saharan Africa to provide treatment recommendations that are more specific to the region.
ACC consists of more than 100 oncologists and other multidisciplinary cancer care physicians from over 30 hospitals, Universities, and Ministries of Health in 13 Sub-Saharan African countries. This initiative spans national borders and countries within Africa in a collaborative effort.
The knowledge that the ACC representatives bring to the table is extensive and invaluable. They know the challenges and many solutions to delivering cancer care in resource-constrained environments.
NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ use color-coded recommendations for optimal cancer care in high-resource settings alongside pragmatic modifications for effective treatment options in low- and mid-resource settings. The guidelines are established in collaboration with local health ministries, providers, and advocates, and are based on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®)—a recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management worldwide. NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for Sub-Saharan Africa are available for free at NCCN.org/harmonized or via the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines® App.
NCCN Harmonized Guidelines™ for Sub-Saharan Africa first debuted in November of 2017, during the biennial African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference in Kigali, Rwanda. They have been officially endorsed in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
In 2019, the ACC, NCCN, ACS, and CHAI joined together to form Allied Against Cancer. This coalition is leveraging the strengths of each organization to partner with and empower the African oncology community to deliver high-quality cancer care, while continually seeking ways to advance health system capacity and improve access for all patients.
The New York Times has published an article about this collaboration: “As Cancer Tears Through Africa, Drug Makers Draw Up a Battle Plan”.
The Allied Against Cancer was featured in a White House Cancer Moonshot Fact Sheet.
Read more about the launch of the new NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa focused on pediatric cancers.
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