Personalised Cancer Care Alliance

The Personalised Cancer Care Alliance is an alliance of cancer patients, carers and representatives of patient organisations from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region and selected countries from WHO Africa and Europe set up to advance health literacy in cancer, advocacy skills and education on personalised cancer care. 

• Promote and advocate for the predictive, preventative, participatory, personalised and pre-emptive healthcare in cancer care.
• Empower patients' organizations at a regional and national level to advocate and raise the patient voice on personalised cancer care in universal health coverage. 
• Build the capacity of patients’ organizations to empower them to advocate for personalised cancer care in universal health coverage.

Why This Matters Now?

Cancer is placing a growing burden on patients, families and health systems across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In 2020, more than 720,000 people were diagnosed with cancer and more than 450,000 people died from cancer in the region. This burden is expected to double by 2040 due to population growth and ageing alone, before even accounting for major regional risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets and air pollution.

Yet cancer outcomes remain deeply unequal. Across and within countries, many patients still face barriers to early diagnosis, biomarker testing, timely treatment, supportive care and palliative care. This means that a person’s chance of receiving the right care at the right time is too often shaped by geography, health system capacity, affordability and availability of services.

Personalised cancer care offers a powerful opportunity to change this. We now know that not all cancers are the same, and not all patients respond to treatment in the same way. Advances in genomics, biomarker testing, digital health and data-driven care make it possible to understand each patient’s cancer more precisely and support more targeted, effective and person-centred care.

But the challenge is no longer only scientific. It is also about implementation. Across the region, there remains a gap between policy commitments and what patients actually experience in practice. National cancer control planning and implementation vary widely, with significant inequities between and within countries.

The Personalised Cancer Care Alliance exists to help close this gap. By bringing together patient organisations, healthcare stakeholders, policymakers and partners, the Alliance advocates for personalised cancer care that is equitable, accessible and grounded in real patient needs.

The goal is to ensure that innovation translates into better outcomes, better quality of life and more dignified cancer care for all patients - not only for those who already have access.

 

The PCCA journey

In 2022:

The Personalised Cancer Care Alliance was set up.

We held a series of 4 webinars to advance patients' cancer health literacy and build capacity to work with us in the development of the first PCCA position paper.

Recording of these webinars:

• Webinar 1: Cancer Burden and Cancer Control Plans in the Middle East & North and Sub-Saharan Africa (30 March 2022)
• Webinar 2: Innovation just for you: How Can Personalised Cancer Care Improve Diagnosis, Treatment, Care and Outcomes? (12 May 2022)
• Webinar 3: Access to Personalised Cancer Care Innovation (22 June 2022)
• Webinar 4: Workshop to Plan a Position Paper on Personalised Cancer Care in the Middle East & North and Sub-Saharan Africa (13 July 2022)

Position Paper 1

In October 2022, we produced our first position paper.

Developed with the help and support of IAPO, PhRMA MEA, leading scientists, oncologists and most importantly patient organisations and civil society in the region, the paper is a seminal reference on personalised cancer care with actual patients’ voices integrated.

This position paper is the first of its kind to put personalised cancer care in the spotlight of high level policy makers while paving the road for patients organisations and civil society to advocate for PCC within their own universal health coverage, communities and with policy makers in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean.

The recommendations are presented to provide a comprehensive road map and a way forward to ensure that personalised cancer care will be accessible to all patients in the region, including low and middle income countries.

The paper sets the baseline for further discussion and development of personalised cancer care within health systems to ensure we have a predictive, preventative, participatory, personalised and pre-emptive cancer care.

View the Position Paper - English

 

View the Position Paper - Arabic

In 2023:

Held a side event at the 76th World Health Assembly titled ‘Amana upon our shoulders – Call to adoption and integration of personalised cancer care in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region’ 

The event culminated in a call to action to ensure we have the Five P's of the PCCA integrated into universal health coverage by 2030 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, especially in the areas of non-communicable diseases and cancer care.

Learn more about the event here.

In 2024:

The Morocco Pilot

The Morocco Pilot was undertaken to test the recommendations from the first Position Paper in real-world contexts. 12 patient organisations took part in a structured pre-assessment and national capacity-building workshop in Marrakech, conducted in collaboration with the AMAL Association as the co-host. Here they developed advocacy roadmaps to strengthen patient involvement, policy engagement, early detection, communication, and community-based support. The pilot demonstrated how patient organisations can move beyond service provision to become strategic partners in shaping national cancer care reform.

To learn more about the capacity-building workshop held in Morocco in 2024, visit this page.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pilot

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pilot was also undertaken to test the recommendations from the first Position Paper in a regional context. Across the GCC, patient organisations from 6 countries came together through a regional workshop in Dubai, held in collaboration with the Gulf Federation for Cancer Control. The workshop supported the co-creation of a regional activation roadmap focused on health literacy, stigma reduction, early detection, psychosocial support, access to advanced diagnostics, genomic testing, AI-driven advocacy, and stronger regional collaboration.

In 2025:

The Gender Working Group 

Gender Working Group (GWG)was established to bring a stronger gender equity lens to personalised cancer care. The GWG work highlights the specific barriers faced by women across the cancer care pathway, including stigma, late diagnosis, limited access to screening and diagnostics, financial barriers, and gaps in psychosocial, fertility, palliative, and survivorship support. It shows why gender equity must be central to efforts to advance personalised cancer care.

Manila Workshop

In November 2025 in Manila, we held a workshop as part of IAPO’s 11th Global Patients Congress bringing together patient organisations and partners involved in the GCC pilot, the Morocco pilot, and the Gender Working Group. The event was a celebration of the achievements of the PCC Alliance since its inception and an opportunity to set the stage for the next phase of regional collaboration.

It culminated in the Manila Workshop Report, which captures the collective discussions from the workshop and outlines the actionable commitments agreed by the participants.

View the Manila Workshop Report

In 2026:

Position Paper 2.0

On Tuesday 5 May 2026, we held a milestone event to launch the PCC Alliance Position Paper 2.0. This Position Paper 2.0 builds on the PCCA first Position Paper published in 2022, and recognises that the next stage of advocacy must move from theory to practice. It demonstrates a shift from conceptual advocacy to implementation-driven action, grounded in real-world evidence, lived experiences, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

The paper is structured in three chapters and captures how the recommendations from the first Position Paper have been tested in real-world contexts through two pilot initiatives undertaken in 2024: one in Morocco and one across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It also introduces the work of the Gender Working Group, established to bring a stronger gender equity lens to personalised cancer care.

View the Position Paper 2.0

Watch the event recording

Contact us

If you are a cancer patient, carer or representative of a patient organisation from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region and would like to learn more about the Alliance, please contact info@iapo.org.uk.

 

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