New Delhi: Enhancing India’s contribution to the Cancer Moonshot initiative, Prime Minister Modi, in keeping with India’s vision of ONE WORLD, ONE HEALTH, announced the dedication of a grant of US $7.5 million to cancer testing, screening, and diagnostics in the Indo-Pacific region.
Prime Minister Modi on Saturday, September 21, participated in the Quad Cancer Moonshot event hosted by President Joseph R Biden Jr, on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.
As a part of the Moonshot initiative, PM Modi also announced India's support for radiotherapy treatment and capacity building for cancer prevention in the Indo-Pacific.
He also mentioned that Indo-Pacific countries will be benefiting from the supply of 40 million doses of vaccine from India under GAVI and QUAD programs. The PM noted that when the Quad acts, it is not just for nations, but for the people, uplifting the true essence of its human-centric approach.
Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi deeply appreciated this thoughtful initiative of President Biden aimed at preventing, detecting and treating cervical cancer. He stated that the programme would go a long way in providing affordable, accessible and quality health care to people in Indo-Pacific countries.
He noted that India was also undertaking a mass cervical cancer screening program in the country. Talking of India’s health security efforts, he mentioned that the nation has developed a cervical cancer vaccine and is working on an AI-based treatment protocol for the disease.
New Delhi will also offer technical assistance to interested countries in the Indo-Pacific region on Digital public infrastructure (DPI) for cancer screening, care and continuum through its US$ 10 million contribution to the Global Initiative on Digital Health.
Through the Cancer Moonshot initiative, the Quad leaders are committed to working together to address gaps in the cervical cancer care and treatment ecosystem in the Indo-Pacific countries. A Joint Cancer Moonshot Fact Sheet have also been released.
According to the joint fact sheet, the United States, Australia, India, and Japan under the Cancer Moonshot initiative, launched a groundbreaking effort to help end cancer in the Indo-Pacific, starting with cervical cancer, a largely preventable disease that continues to be a major health crisis in the region, and laying the groundwork to address other forms of cancer as well. This initiative is part of a broader set of announcements made at the Quad Leaders Summit.
The Quad Cancer Moonshot will serve to strengthen the overall cancer care ecosystem in the Indo-Pacific by improving health infrastructure, expanding research collaborations, building data systems, and providing greater support for cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and care.
As a part of the effort, India will share technical expertise in digital health through its National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) portal. As part of its $10 million commitment to support the World Health Organization (WHO) led Global Initiative on Digital Health, India will provide technical assistance to the Indo-Pacific region. This includes offering technical support for the use of its National Non-Communicable Disease portal, which tracks long-term data on cancer screening and care.
India commits to providing Human papillomavirus (HPV) sampling kits, detection tools and cervical cancer vaccines worth $7.5 million to the Indo-Pacific region. This significant contribution aims to strengthen local efforts to prevent and detect cervical cancer and empower communities with affordable, accessible tools for early detection and prevention while supporting vaccination programmes to reduce the disease burden across the region.
It is however, important to note that India is scaling up population-based screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers through its National Program for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases.
In particular, India uses the Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) method for cervical cancer screening, which is simple, cost-effective and efficient and allows healthcare workers to detect early signs of cervical cancer without the need for advanced laboratory infrastructure, making it a model for other regions in the Indo-Pacific.
India is expanding access to specialised cancer treatment centres under its 'Strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer Centres' programme. The Government of India is supporting both states and union territories to improve treatment capacity across the country, ensuring that people from all parts of the country, including underserved areas, can receive high-quality care.
India’s commitment to cervical cancer elimination is further supported by implementation research led by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The research is focused on enhancing cervical cancer screening, early diagnosis and initiation of treatment. The results and findings will be shared with the Indo-Pacific countries in the coming years, to strengthen regional collaboration.
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