Septiembre 30, 2003 - Bogota, Colombia Cancer is a pathology on the rise in developing countries as a consequence of demographic transition. For this reason, in Latin America, a region of multiculturalism, different strategies must be developed directed not only in care, but in prevention always keeping in mind the social context in which health professionals interact. In this context, the Universidad de los Andes offered a global dialogue in which this topic was addressed based on reflection and questioning of the policies and programs in the field of cancer prevention. The dialogue had among its participants, representatives and employees of the health sector from public organizations, international agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, among others, in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Republica Dominicana.

Cancer is made up of pathological states with a distribution at the global level that has not been homogenous because it relates to differences in demographic changes, the industrialization process, and the urbanization unique to each region and country. However, and outside of the accomplishments reached, cancer is among the top causes of death on a global scale; is considered a multicausal, chronic, silent, illness that in many cases can be prevented under certain life conditions and can be cured when the diagnosis is realized in early stages of the illness. The presence of this illness in a person's life becomes a critical event for the individual as well as for the individual's family. Its presence is often perceived as a metaphor for death and as punishment, radically modifies the social and organizational structure of the individual and the group around them. Due to these elements, the illness, in its daily reality, calls for constructing therapeutic responses and in the public health setting, requires the generation of prevention strategies adapted to society's reality in which it is possible to construct a suitable environment for the individual's and community's health. For this reason, it is urgent to improve public health information that facilitates the periodic evaluation of the sanitary situation and the analysis of its tendencies in all the population groups and geographic levels, and not just with national averages.

In this context the global dialogue was developed. Mr. Jorge Gamarra, GDLN Colombia Coordinator from the Universidad de los Andes opened the session by welcoming the Latin American and Caribbean guests. The first presentation of the dialogue was given by Dr. Roberto Suarez, Associate Professor of the Universidad de los Andes, whose presentation covered the cultural and social significance of cancer and how to understand prevention criteria. Directly following, Dr. Carolina Wiesner, Group Coordinator for the Policies and Programas Area of the Colombia National Cancerology Institute, developed her presentation around the question, "does a universal model exist for the global management of cancer?", and presented comparative examples of the United States and Europe. The final presentation of the dialogue was given by Dr. Raul Hernando Murillo, Specialized Doctor of the Colombia National Cancerology Institute. In his presentation, Dr. Murillo highlighted the importance of early detection in order to control risk.

The dialogue reached its objectives through the integration and exchange among the presenters and countries. A discussion and reflection space was opened for the experiences of health promotion and cancer prevention in developing countries, the contextual and practical concept was established of the challenges associated with cancer prevention, strategies and prevention models were illustrated, the problem of the relation between culture and prevention public policies in a national as well as international context was presented, and practical recommendations were received by the organizations on prevention policies.

For additional information regarding this activity, please contact Jorge Gamarra at the following e-mail address: jo-gamar@uniandes.edu.co. To learn about future GDLN activities in health related topics, please contact Carmen Carpio at the following e-mail address: ccarpio@worldbank.org.