Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Foundation
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : c************s@t*************r.ca
Mission Statement
To provide education and mentorship for healthcare providers and develop equitable and accessible healthcare programs that improve disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and palliative and end-of-life care.
About This Cause
In regions of South Asia, 80% of young people diagnosed with cancer and other life-limiting health issues die. In higher-resourced countries, such as Canada, 80% survive. The mission of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is to To provide education and mentorship for healthcare providers and develop equitable and accessible healthcare programs that improve disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and palliative and end-of-life care. “Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is a grassroots initiative, building capacity for palliative, end-of-life and curative interventions in resource-constrained countries. We collaborate with health professionals in regions of South Asia to create a self-sufficient, sustainable system of care for those in need.” Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, President, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is a Canadian registered charity led by a team of Canadian and international health care professionals who volunteer their time and expertise to collaborate with local care professionals in lesser-resourced countries to help reduce the burden of cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. In India, a country with 1.4 billion people, few professionals have the capacity or training to provide needed services for those dying of cancer. This is why Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is working hard with the Hyderabad Centre care team in the state of Telangana, to make a difference. “The government’s National Health Plan 2017 clearly includes palliative care as part of their official health strategy. It says every health and wellness centre at primary health level should have palliative care, along with health promotion treatment and rehabilitation. It’s official. We have arrived. It’s just that we don’t know how to implement it. It should be part of the mainstream health system. When you talk about medicine, surgery, cardiology you should also include palliative care.” Dr. Gayatri Palat, Director of Palliative Care Access, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration in India and the Don Rix Professor of Palliative Medicine at the MNJ Institute of Oncology The Hyderabad Centre in Telangana provides patient care at the Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre (MNJ Institute), which is the only hospital in a state of 39 million people – more than the entire population of Canada - that offers a dedicated palliative cancer care program regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Less than 1% of patients in the state of Telangana have access to pain control drugs such as morphine, but Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is helping to change those statistics. Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration has played a key role supporting the clinical strategy, leadership, training and education, infrastructure and financing of the Hyderabad Centre. Because of this support from Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, the Hyderabad Centre is now a regional centre for quality palliative care services, advocacy, and training and policy - not just in Telangana, but also in the state of Andhra Pradesh and in South Asia. Health care professionals from other countries have visited the Hyderabad Centre to learn of our endeavors to advance palliative care from the team of doctors, nurses and other professionals. During the global COVID19 pandemic, the advancement of palliative care knowledge continues through video sessions reaching out to those in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Cancer survivorship and palliative care access in Canada makes this country an international leader in health care provision. Dr. Simon Sutcliffe and his team at Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration know that Canada can, and is, playing a key role in reducing suffering and improving outcomes for cancer and other life-limiting illnesses in lesser-resourced countries. The major focus of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is to support palliative care, end-of-life care and curative interventions for adult and childhood cancers and other life-limiting illnesses; and to further awareness and prevention of oral cavity cancers. In collaboration with local health care professionals in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is helping develop resources and protocols that can be implemented and sustained locally by care professionals. “It is said that a long journey begins with a “small step”. Since 2007 that journey, thanks to Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, has indeed come a long way” Dr. Gayatri Palat, Director of Palliative Care Access, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration in India and the Don Rix Professor of Palliative Medicine at the MNJ Institute of Oncology The INCTR (The International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research) was established in 1988 by Dr. Ian Magrath, a world leading pediatric oncologist. It is an internationally recognized non-governmental organization (NGO), based in Brussels, Belgium, and affiliated with the WHO (World Health Organization). In 2007 a Canadian branch of INCTR was created as a non-profit society. It became Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration in 2011 and registered as a Canadian charity, allowing donors to make gifts, create and grow programs, and support even more people in need. The first “small step” took place in 2007 through a collaborative partnership developed between the Canadian branch of INCTR (now Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration) and the Hyderabad Centre. As a result of the support of generous donors and volunteer experts, this journey has continued to grow. Over the last 10 years, the work of Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration has expanded from just a small hospital out-patient clinic in Hyderabad, to the Hyderabad Centre for Palliative Care and the creation of programs in India Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration primary work has been in India. It is now reaching out and taking the successful programs and models from India to Nepal and Sri Lanka, with dedicated team members furthering this work with partners in each country. Nepal is the 49th largest country in the world with a population of 29,624,033, 80% of which lives in rural areas. In 2018, there were over 26,000 new cancer cases and almost 20,000 deaths, with lung being the most frequent type of cancer. More than 11,000 patients with cancer require palliative care and as they mostly reside in rural areas, necessitating long and difficult travel to reach even basic health care. Two Worlds Cancer Colloboration Program Sunflower Nepal works to further pediatric care by using the Zoom:ECHO platform to provide education to the healthcare providers; and to support placements and observership opportunities for physicians and nurses. Education and training will further the knowledge to those providing care to adult palliative care patients in Nepal. The Hyderabad Centre provides the curriculum and the site for training and observership. Sri Lanka has just over 21 million people residing on an island just slightly larger than the province of Nova Scotia. Compared to Sri Lankans, Canadians are almost 50% less likely to die during infancy. Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration team members work with physicians in Jaffna, Northern Province, where palliative care is in its infancy at the general hospital, and at the CANE Hospice, which functions as a lodge for out-of-town patients requiring active care at the hospital. The cities of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, two major cities in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, have no structured palliative care program or palliative care team. Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration will continue to work with Sri Lanka health care professionals to advance their care of patients through palliative care education and training, using Hyderabad Centre as a core training and mentorship facility. Oral cancer is a significant global health problem, with more than 350,000 cases annually, of which almost 160,000 new cases occur in South-Central Asia. The death toll represents over 50% of all deaths from oral cancer in the world. The high mortality rate is primarily due to the advanced stage at which it is diagnosed. Oral cavity cancer screening can be effective in identifying treatable disease at an earlier stage. The Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration Oral Cavity Cancer Screening & Early Detection initiative is a rural community program based on extra-oral and intra-oral cavity examination using visual, white light and blue light (VELscope) examinations to detect early lesions, triaging lesions according to risk level for biopsy and specialist referral. Oral mouth swabs of participants with lesions are taken and sent to a laboratory for analysis for abnormal cells. The initial program took place in 2019/2020 in rural communities surrounding Hyderabad, India and the soon to be published results will be shared with the Telangana state government as a viable, easily implementable and cost-effective program to detect early stage oral cancer. The Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration team plans to expand this initiative to Sri Lanka in the coming post pandemic years but to be ready work has commenced on the Sri Lanka oral cavity cancer awareness and detection program.