Cancer patients around the world are being given better access to life-saving care thanks to support from the IAEA’s Rays of Hope initiative, participants at a Rays of Hope Forum heard.

Rays of Hope aims to widen access to life-saving cancer care where there is the most need; by helping low- and middle-income countries establish or expand medical imaging, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine services. Since its launch in Ethiopia three years ago, more than 90 countries have requested support under the initiative.

“Cancer is a top cause of death in Africa, taking 2000 lives a day,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaking at the Forum opening in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday. “Three years ago, here at the African Union Headquarters, we launched Rays of Hope. Today, we are bringing cancer care to countries that had none.”

Temesgen Tiruneh, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, said: “Let this Forum be a call to collective action. Let it inspire deeper cooperation, bolder investments, and unwavering solidarity — so that no child dies from a treatable cancer, no mother waits endlessly for a diagnosis, and no nation is left behind simply because of geography or GDP.”

The Minister of Health of Ethiopia, Mekdes Daba Feyssa and the Chief of Staff of the African Union Mohamed Al- Amine Souef also gave opening remarks at the Rays of Hope Forum.

During the morning sessions, representatives from countries that have received support under the Rays of Hope initiative shared their experiences.

These included Benjamin Hounkpatin, Minister of Health in Benin, Gilbert Kabanda Kurhenga, Minister of Scientific Research and Technology in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mekdes Daba Feyssa, Minister of Public Health in Ethiopia, Selibe Mochoboroane, the Minister of Health in Lesotho, lbrahima Sy, Minister of Health and Social Action in Senegal, Lawrence Ookeditse, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health in Botswana and Fredrick Ouma Oluga, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Health in Kenya.

Countries which have donated to the Rays of Hope also spoke of the importance of the initiative. Speakers included Jens Hanefeld, Ambassador of Germany to Ethiopia and Permanent Observer to the African Union in Ethiopia, Maurizio Busanelli, Permanent Representative of Italy to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopia, Tsutomu Nakagawa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the African Union and Julien Voituriez, First Counsellor, Embassy of France to Ethiopia and to the African Union.

Watch the live stream here.

IAEA Holds Rays of Hope Forum To Increase Access to Cancer Care

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death on the continent, claiming around 2,000 lives every day. Three years ago, to close the global cancer care gap, we launched the IAEA’s #RaysOfHope initiative at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa..

Expanding Access to Cancer Care

On Monday, IAEA and St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital entered a significant new partnership to address inequality in global childhood cancer care.

The Forum gave participiants the opportunity to look back on many other notable achievements of the Rays of Hope initiative in its first three years. Malawi will inaugurate its first-ever public radiotherapy centre in the coming days, while Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti and  Lesotho are also in the process of establishing radiotherapy in their countries. Linear accelerators have been delivered to Kenya, Malawi, Niger, and Paraguay. More than 80 cancer care professionals have been trained around the world, and 12 Rays of Hope Anchor Centres have been set up to train experts, build networks and foster innovation in everything from personalized cancer treatment to paediatric cancer care.

IAEA support to Countries under the Rays of Hope Initiative

The Rays of Hope Forum sessions on Monday highlighted the various types of support that the IAEA provides to countries to expand access to cancer care. The first day of the forum consisted of sessions on partnerships and financing for care — highlighting the variety of engaged organizations, from private sector and international financial institutions to donor governments.

The OPEC Fund for International Development, MedAccess, GE HealthCare, and Siemens Healthineers, all organizations that have partnered with the IAEA to strengthen cancer care, were represented during these sessions.

The session also drew attention to the IAEA’s network of Rays of Hope Anchor Centres — regional beacons of hope that deliver services while also functioning as capacity-building hubs for technical improvement. These centres are partners to private sector stakeholders in training, innovation and quality assurance around the world. Amid the  countries showcasing the regional support as hosts of IAEA Anchor Centres were Pakistan, Argentina, Morocco, South Africa, Algeria and India.

 See the programme here.

On Tuesday, Forum sessions focused on IAEA support to Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia and in Asia and the Pacific under Rays of Hope. The Forum concluded with a session on how countries are addressing breast cancer through enhanced diagnosis with support from the IAEA’s flagship cancer care initiative.