Created in 2001, AMCC, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) association governed by the law of 1901, the French branch of the INCTR (International Network for Treatment and Research on Cancer) mainly oriented towards women's and children's cancers, aims to strengthen the fight against cancer in low- and middle-income countries through training, education, teaching, research with support for therapeutic care.
Involvement and commitment to the countries of the South is the result of the inequality of access to care due in particular to the lack of infrastructure, the low number of specialists, training difficulties and poverty.
Contrary to popular belief, cancer is and will increasingly be a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. With 270 million habitants in 2011, representing 27% of Africa's population (one billion), the 20 French-speaking sub-Saharan countries (out of 54 states making up Africa) are characterized by a fertility rate that is still very high while life expectancy is increasing. The number of new cases of cancer, currently around 300,000 new cases/year, will, as everywhere else in the world, continue to increase rapidly to reach between 600,000 and 800,000 new cases/year in the next 20 years. Cancer mortality (about 80% of cases today) is already much higher than in high-income countries and, contrary to what is seen there, will increase in parallel with incidence if the current catastrophic situation does not change.
This is why it is necessary, from now on, to make cancer a priority in the health priorities of each country. The fight against cancer is complex and requires the skills of many players - many doctors and non-physicians - and preventive actions must be anticipated because it takes 15 to 20 years to reap the benefits. It is important to remember that early diagnosis of curable cancers (particularly in young people and women) is more effective at a lower cost.
In this context, AMCC has defined its priority objectives: to promote the fight against cancer through exchanges between professionals, ongoing training of local teams, both medical and non-medical, and the preparation and implementation of research projects, a guarantee of improved care on a daily basis. Its specificity is to attach great importance to the training of doctors, nurses and technicians on the spot: without competent and reliable professionals, no team can hope to treat any form of cancer properly.