Reported June 12, 2009

The beat goes on at the National Summit for Community Cancer Control in Prince George as about 400 medical professionals from across Canada listen, learn and share from each other.

Friday morning the gathering heard Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, past-president of the B.C. Cancer Agency, reflect on cancer across the world with a focus on the different ways that countries much poorer than Canada work to overcome cancer control challenges among populations.

He said although principles of cancer care are those of human rights, globally it is true that "one solution may not fit all among urban and rural populations, especially since rural and remote populations are proven to have lower quality of health due to alcohol and tobacco use, obesity, less access to health care and services and other geographical factors."

Although differences in health outcomes between urban and rural populations are significant due to risk factors and less access to service, the differences are not biological, but physical, said Sutcliffe.

"It may be that urban Canada doesn't have the right solution for remote Canada" and the challenge is for the solution to come from the rural areas.

In the Philippines, an alliance has been implemented around chronic diseases which includes everything from tobacco use to food labeling to improve health status.

In Brazil, there is close tobacco control by eliminating smoking indoors, providing education on smoking cessation and lobbying against the tobacco companies which has decreased smoking by a large percentage.

He noted the unique thing about this "relentless push" is that Brazil is the second-largest producer of tobacco in the world.

Saudi Arabia is using tele-health methods to implement cancer control by linking 18 cities with fibre-optic systems which has resulted in a savings of $13 per patient visit.

His challenge to the delegates is to make Canada a leader in cancer control in rural, remote and northern communities.

"If Canada can't get it right, what hope is there for the rest of the world? We have the resources to lead in working out solutions across the world. Adopt a northern leadership role for Canada," he said.

The summit at the Civic Centre continues today with an early keynote address by Dr. Tony Fields, professor of oncology at the University of Alberta and winds up with a speech by Dr. Richard Heinzl, a founder of Canada's Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization created in 1971.

Doctors volunteers their time and expertise in 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.