Congress Report: International Congress on Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Integration of Research & Action

I would like to report that National Cancer Research Network of Iran (NCRC) organized its first international congress in 28-30 January 2017. The congress focused on “Cancer Prevention and Early Detection , integration of Research and Action” and tried to bring the cancer researcher, specialists as well as the local and international stakeholders and policy makers on board to discuss different aspect of the cancer prevention and early detection in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The NCRN in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), and over 40 cancer organisations, NGOs and foundations. The objectives of congress included 1- To promote networking of the cancer stakeholders and researchers to integrate researches to policy and action, 2) To review the recent national policies and actions on prevention and early detection of cancer in Iran, 3 To review the most important international scientific advices and recommendations about cancer prevention and early detection. In particular we discussed the following topics:•Cancer Registry and Surveillance System
•Obesity, Life Style and Physical Activity and Risk of Cancer
•Food, Nutrition and Risk of Cancer
•Tobacco Control and Cancer Prevention
•Opium and Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Cancer
•Environmental Exposures and Occupational Cancer
•Detection and Screening of colorectal cancer
•Detection and Screening of Breast cancer
•Detection and Screening of Upper GI cancer
•Detection and Screening of Cervical Cancer
•Detection and Screening of Prostate Cancer
•Early Detection and Cancer (Selected abstracts)
•Role of NGOs and Cancer Charities in Cancer Research
•Ionizing Radiation and Carcinogenesis (Risk, Prevention, and Methods)
•Cancer Genetics
•Personalized Medicine
•Cancer Biomarkers
In addition, we took advantage of attending several international scientists in the congress and run a few workshops on cancer research methods to train students and researchers. International delegates from World Health Organization (WHO/EMRO), International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Union International Union for Cancer Control (UICC), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as scientists form universities and research organizations from the USE, Canada, Europe, and Asia actively participated in the congress and provided latest research results and international recommendation about the congress topics. Congress managed to cover the important aspect of cancer prevention and early detection based on the international and local priorities. In addition, we considered discussion on prevention biomarkers in order to attract the attention of basic scientists into this congress. Four tracks of the congress included cancer registration and surveillance, primary prevention, early detection, and biomarkers discovery. Several researchers from different public health, clinical and basic sciences disciplines participated in this congress by presenting their research as oral or poster presentations. The abstracts from this congress was published as special issue by the Archive of Medical Sciences. In addition, the interaction of researchers and policy makers from local and international recommendation lead to several new idea in the research or policy making. I am sure that these discussions will end up to the new collaboration and research in cancer, and hopefully networking between researchers and policy makers and putting the research results into practice which was the main objective of such a congress.
In addition to the scientific and policy making aspect, we organized the congress close to the international World Cancer Day and tried to convey the scientific results and policy making outputs to the public and participate in the public awareness campaigns. This happened thought several interviews by media and public journals with the scientists and stakeholders who attended in this workshop and disseminated the specific evidences to the public.
The results of the congress was promising and it nicely met the objectives. However, we missed two aspects of cancer control in this congress, including cancer treatment and palliative care. The organizers has decided to extend the area of this important event and the next congress will cover all aspect of cancer control program, including cancer registry and surveillance, prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and palliative care. Our second international congress will be in 23-25 April, 2019 and I would like to welcome all the stakeholders, researchers, and policy makers and invite them to join us and bring their new findings from research results and updates on policy options in the local and international level. I am sure that that the next congress will be more inspiring and will lead to new insights in the cancer control program in Iran and other countries in this region. We are looking forward seeing you all in Tehran and hope that this biannual metting play important role in the promotion of cancer control program in I.R. Iran