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Global Access to Cancer Care Foundation (GACCF) Announces
Plans to Install First and Only Public Radiation Oncology
Treatment Center in La Paz, Bolivia
GACCF and strategic partner Radiating Hope
work together to build radio
oncology unit at the Hospital Municipal La Portada to serve
population of 2.4 million
Washington D.C., November
12, 2019 – Global Access to
Cancer Care Foundation (GACCF) www.globalaccf.org,
the leading global cancer care organization providing
oncology education programs in low and middle-income
countries (LMICs), announced today that along with its
strategic partner, Radiating Hope, will install a
state-of-the-art radiation oncology treatment center at the
Hospital Municipal La Portada in Bolivia’s second largest
city of La Paz by the end of next year, 2020.
Thanks in part to the donation of an entire radio oncology suite
by Dr. Ed Hughes, founder of First Dayton Cancer Care
in Ohio, GACCF, Radiating Hope and building partner Lazarian
World Homes will assist Bolivian partners in the
construction of the new cancer center. The donated
equipment, worth more than $3 million, includes two linear
accelerators (LINAC), a stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)
device, a computed tomography (CT-Scan) device, and X-ray
machines. GACCF and Radiating Hope will also ensure that the
new facility will be equipped to perform high-dose-rate (HDR)
brachytherapy treatments, which is particularly useful in
combating cervical cancer; one of the top four cancers in
the developing world.
“Today,
cancer treatment in Bolivia is virtually nonexistent,” said
Tonya Steiner, executive director of the Global Access to
Cancer Care Foundation.
“People will go to a doctor and if given a diagnosis, they
will go home and receive palliative care. There’s no
treatment. The equipment we are donating and the technical
education we will provide will allow Bolivian doctors and
health works at the Hospital Municipal La Portada to
treat cervical cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and
mouth and throat cancer – all curable diseases and certainly
100 percent treatable.”
Cancer is the leading non-communicable
disease in LMICs, surpassing diabetes and cardiovascular
disease. There are more deaths from cancer worldwide than
AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined, due in large part
to lack of early detection and access to treatment.
Working in partnership with regional and
international partners, GACCF is building a sustainable
cancer education and treatment system to treat patients in
low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in South America,
Africa, South and East Asia. Focusing on early detection,
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, GACCF and Radiating
Hope are working to reduce cancer mortality rates throughout
the countries it serves.
“We tend to think of cancer as an American problem, but when
you look at the statistics you will find that the majority
of cancer cases – 57 percent – now occur in low-and
middle-income countries,” said Tom Ladd, executive director
of Radiating Hope. “It’s not just AIDS, and malaria that are
causing deaths in developed countries. It is cancer that is
taking a major toll on people worldwide and we have to start
thinking and acting globally to prevent and treat this
terrible disease.”
To make a donation, visit www.globalaccf.org.
About Global Access to Cancer Care
Foundation:
The Global Access to Cancer Care Foundation (GACCF)
offers training, technology, access, and hope; specifically
for low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in South
America, Africa, South and East Asia. The Foundation’s
cancer care professionals help to implement and oversee
training courses and workshops in collaboration with local
partners such as universities, hospitals or governmental
institutions that enhance cancer treatment through
radiotherapy treatment. These regional programs aim to
overcome the lack of trained professionals who treat cancer
patients in the near term. By empowering local faculty to
deliver training, the GACCF education programs encourage
self-reliance and sustainability. To support the success of
these programs, the GACCF provides project management,
financial support, and professional teams from within and
outside the region. For more information visit: www.globalaccf.org. |