The road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era highlights innovative work underway and identifies improvements to boost cancer system capacity and save lives
TORONTO, June 15, 2022 /CNW/ – The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (the Partnership) today released a new report, The road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era, that urges policymakers and health system leaders to consider cancer a priority in the wake of the pandemic.
Noting that time is of the essence, the report also shares innovative solutions already underway by partners in parts of Canada – which can be used as models for improvement by other communities across the country.
“Canada must not forget cancer when allocating healthcare resources as we continue to deal with the impacts of the pandemic,” said Dr. Craig Earle, CEO of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. “The Partnership’s priority from the start of the pandemic was on meeting the needs of people with cancer whose disease did not stop, even as much of the world did, and our cancer system partners have done incredible work to deliver care during this challenging time. As we shift to pandemic recovery, we’re keeping our focus on cancer and we urge others to do the same.”
Lives are at stake. One study predicts the possibility of more than 20,000 additional cancer-related deaths over the next 10 years.i However, that could be reduced by almost 16,000 if the cancer system’s diagnostic and treatment capacity is increased 10% above pre-pandemic levels.ii
Putting the focus on cancer in key areas
“Strengthening Canada’s cancer system starts with getting a clear picture of what’s happening today, and what kinds of responses and investments will be needed for the future,” said Dr. Earle. “Policy-makers and cancer system leaders should take action now to focus on the key areas identified in The road to recovery, and can draw on the many examples of innovative, practical actions already underway across the country the report highlights.”
The road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era identifies a number of challenges that arose during the pandemic, such as delays in cancer screening and diagnosis, disruption of cancer prevention services, treatment and care, and pressures on the healthcare workforce. This resulted in real impacts on real people, exacerbating health and social inequities, with a disproportionate effect on First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
The report notes that, as COVID-19 continues to disrupt Canada’s cancer system, attention needs to be given to three key focus areas to boost system capacity and save lives: (1) solving the healthcare human resources crunch, (2) preparing for a surge in cases, and (3) leveraging the potential of new ways of delivering care including those supported by digital technologies.
It also highlights the fact that, to improve care and outcomes for cancer patients, health equity must be at the forefront of Canada’s pandemic response and recovery.
Find out more in The road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era
The report brings together recent data and research from partners across Canada, and it also shares examples and stories of innovative approaches already underway to improve cancer care.
“Throughout the pandemic, healthcare professionals and cancer system partners across Canada dedicated themselves to supporting patients and their families through a very difficult period,” said the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health. “Our government is committed to improving access to health care and supporting healthcare professionals to ensure Canadians have access to the care they deserve. This timely and insightful report provides examples and ideas to improve cancer care for patients everywhere.”
Share your thoughts, actions and innovations on the road to recovery using #FocusOnCancer.
About the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
As the steward of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control (the Strategy), the Partnership works with Canada’s cancer community to take action to ensure people in Canada have equitable access to quality cancer care, fewer people get cancer, more people survive cancer and those living with the disease have a better quality of life. This work is guided by the Strategy, which was refreshed for 2019 to 2029 and will help drive measurable change for all people in Canada affected by cancer. The Strategy includes eight priorities, which will tackle the most pressing challenges in cancer control as well as distinct First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples-specific priorities and actions reflecting Canada’s commitment to reconciliation. The Partnership oversees the implementation of the priorities in collaboration with organizations and individuals on the front lines of cancer care – the provinces and territories, health-care professionals, people living with cancer and those who care for them, First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, governments and organizations, and its funder Health Canada.
The road to recovery: Cancer in the COVID-19 era report supports the implementation of the Strategy. Addressing the impact of the pandemic will be a key consideration in the planning and implementation of the Partnership’s work with partners as we shift from pandemic response to pandemic recovery.
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
