Two day Symposium on Comprehensive Prevention & Control of Cervical in Northeast India

A Two-day Symposium on “Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Cervical Cancer in North East India” was held at Gangtok, Sikkim on September 28-29, 2015. It was attended by healthcare policy makers, academics, and public health experts from the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Sikkim and the state of West Bengal. The meeting was organized under the aegis of Cancer Foundation of India (CFI), Kolkata, and convened by Prof. Maqsood Siddiqi, Former Director, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute & Bose Institute, Kolkata and presently the Chairman, CFI.

The basic objective of the multi-stakeholder’s roundtable was to discuss the burden of the disease and explore feasible strategies and delivery models for comprehensive cervical cancer prevention and control program in India which could be integrated into the public health delivery system in the country, with particular reference to North East region.

The meeting was inaugurated by Padma Bhushan Prof. N.K.Ganguly, Former Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi and the valedictory address was delivered by Dr. Kumar Bhandari, DG cum Secretary, Department of Health Care, Human Services and Family Welfare, Government of Sikkim, Gangtok.

The speakers, resource persons and discussants were from Rajiv Gandhi Centre of Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, Post-graduate Institute of Medical Research & Education (PGI), Chandigarh, National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC),MoHFW, New Delhi, Immunisation Technical Support Unit (ITSU), MoHFW, New Delhi, NCD Cell, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute, Pune, International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), Lyon, France, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimphu, Bhutan, American Cancer Society (ACS), USA and Global Health Strategies (GHS), USA.

One day Symposium on HPV Vaccine for Primary Prevention of Cervical Cancer

The One-day Symposium on “HPV Vaccine for Primary Prevention of Cervical Cancer” was organized by Cancer Foundation of India at Chennai and was held at Vivanta by Taj - Connemara, Chennai on December 9, 2014.The meeting was attended by invited health care experts, policy makers and NGO’s working in the field of cervical cancer control and public health from states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The faculty consisted of eminent healthcare experts having extensive experience in cervical screening and HPV vaccine research in India. Padma Bhushan Dr. V. Shanta, Chairman, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai and one of the most revered and honoured cancer experts in the country was the Chief Guest for the inaugural session along with Mr. M.S. Shanmugam, IAS, Project Director of Tamil Nadu Health System Project, who was the Guest of Honour for the Inaugural session.

The meeting organized under the aegis of Cancer Foundation of India (CFI), Kolkata explored the possibility if HPV vaccination could be adopted as a method of preventing cervical cancer in conjunction with screening.

One day Symposium on Recent Advances in Cervical Cancer Prevention

A One-day Symposium on “Recent Advances in Cervical Cancer Prevention” for health care experts and policy makers in India was held at Vivanta by Taj - Ambassador, New Delhi on November 14, 2014. The Symposium was inaugurated by Dr. Jagadish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, Govt. of India expressing commitment to integrating HPV vaccination in cervical cancer screening programme in the country. It was addressed by some of the best professionals committed to cervical cancer control in India and attended by representatives from various organisational heads working with cervical cancer in the country. The meeting was organized under the aegis of Cancer Foundation of India (CFI), Kolkata.

One-day Symposium on HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Prevention

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer amongst women in India, accounting for over 134,000 new cases and more than 74,000 deaths annually. The identification of most common HPV types as etiological risk factors for cervical cancer has led to the development of prophylactic vaccines against specific sets of HPV genotypes as preventive strategy against the disease. It is anticipated that HPV vaccines in India would become a preferred method of primary prevention of cervical cancer supplementing the population-based screening programmes which several states in the country have already started.

A One-day Symposium on “HPV Vaccine and Cervical Cancer Prevention” for health care experts and policy makers from Northeastern (NE) states was held at Mayfair Gangtok, Sikkim on July 5, 2014. It was attended by representatives from the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and several high-ranking healthcare officials from Govt. of Sikkim. The meeting was organized under the aegis of Cancer Foundation of India (CFI), Kolkata.

Symposium on “Cervical Cancer Control in India”

The Symposium was organized to  review the strategies for Cervical cancer control in India. It was attended by nearly 200 scientists, oncologists, health providers and representatives of industries to discuss cervical cancer prevention in India. The key note address at this Symposium was delivered by Prof. Harald zur Hausen, Nobel laureate in Medicine, 2008. The One-day Symposium was the first of its kind where all those currently working in cervical cancer control presented their work. A panel discussion on Cervical Cancer Control-What next conclude the day-long programme. An added attraction was a Poster Session from young researchers working in Kolkata on Cervical Cancer.