SHARJAH, (Pakistan Point News - 11th Nov, 2020) United Nations Population Fund, Arab States Regional Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Friends of Cancer Patients, FOCP, a UAE-based civil society organisation to boost collaborative efforts in reducing the burden of cervical cancer on the Arab states.
The MoU aims to advance raising of awareness; combined advocacy efforts, and evidence-generation and knowledge sharing on reproductive health, women empowerment and non-communicable diseases, with a focus on reproductive health cancers, cervical cancer, in particular.
Cervical cancer still causes at least 7,600 deaths per year among women in the MENA region. "UNFPA is committed to supporting national governments with the development or update of their cervical cancer prevention and control programmes," said Dr. Luay Shabaneh, Regional Director, UNFPA Arab States.
During the same event, Dr. Shabaneh, together with Sawsan Jafar, Chairman of FOCP board of Directors, announced the 2nd Cervical Cancer Forum in January 2021. This forum under the title "Accelerating Action on HPV and Cervical Cancer" will be the first joint event after the MoU signature between FOCP and UNFPA ASRO. It will also be a follow-up forum to the first edition organised by FOCP in collaboration with UNFPA ASRO and the MENA Coalition for HPV Elimination, in January 2019 in Sharjah, that resulted in announcing the "Sharjah Declaration on Cervical Cancer 3x3".
Describing the partnership with UNFPA ASRO as significant and timely, Jafar explained, "If decisive action is not taken now, 42 women will die each day from a preventable disease, cervical cancer, in the MENA region by 2040."
She added, "I am pleased to announce that the second Cervical Cancer Forum will be taking place in January 2021. At the forum, we will review the progress of the three-pronged integrated strategy implemented under the ‘2019 Sharjah Declaration on Cervical Cancer’, and discuss the establishment of sustainable cervical cancer and HPV eradication programmes. I am confident that this forum will offer a strong impetus to local, regional and international health communities and centres of medical knowledge in mobilising their efforts and building their capacities to ensure that future generations of women do not have to succumb to a preventable and treatable cancer."
