VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUNV #0507/01 3131106
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091106Z NOV 09 ZDK
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0273
INFO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0165
RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST 0213
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0920

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000507 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR IO/GS, ISN/NESS, ISN/MNSA 
PLEASE PASS USAID; GENEVA FOR WHO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO SOCI EAID KNNP AORC IAEA
SUBJECT: IAEA/PACT: WHO ENVOY FOR CANCER PREVENTION NANCY BRINKER 
BRINGS MESSAGE OF COOPERATION TO IAEA MEMBER STATES 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  WHO Envoy Ambassador Nancy Brinker spoke at a 
PACT-hosted event entitled "The Globalization of Cancer" on October 
20, 2009, painting a picture of how cancer will increasingly burden 
low income and developing countries.  Brinker also consulted IAEA 
officials about implementing the WHO-IAEA/PACT partnership 
agreement.  The public event and IAEA meetings were fruitful in 
discussing how to integrate WHO experts into IAEA "imPACT" 
assessments starting in 2010.  Doing so will ensure countries 
requesting assistance are evaluated on the full spectrum of cancer 
control.  END SUMMARY 
 
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CANCER NOT ONLY A "RICH COUNTRY CONCERN" 
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¶2.  (U) At the invitation of the IAEA Program of Action for Cancer 
Therapies (PACT), former U.S. Chief of Protocol Ambassador Nancy 
Brinker, founder and chairperson of the Susan G. Komen Foundation 
and recently appointed UN/WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer 
Control, spoke October 20 in Vienna.  Her audience of over 100 
included IAEA officials, journalists, Member State representatives, 
and doctors.  Supporting her impassioned remarks was a chilling 
statistical and visual presentation by Dr. Peter Boyle, President of 
the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France. 
Their main message was that cancer claims more lives annually than 
TB, malaria and AIDS combined, and curing cancer should command at 
least the same public policy commitment as do those diseases 
targeted in the Millennium Development Goals.  Noting that sixty 
percent of cancer cases occur in the developing world, Brinker said 
treatment and life-extending therapies are largely inaccessible to 
most vicims due to a lack of infrastructure and human resources as 
well as inadequate national health policies.  As cancer becomes more 
globalized, hard-won health gains in developing countries will be 
eroded by the burden of cancer illness and death, she asserted. 
This burden will become a major impediment to socioeconomic 
development.  Ambassador Brinker highlighted the PACT-WHO 
partnership as a way to address the global cancer epidemic and 
advocated for cancer control itself to become a Millennium 
Development Goal. 
 
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PACT UPDATE 
----------- 
 
¶3.  (U) In Brinker's subsequent conversations with PACT Director 
Massoud Samiei and Senior Fundraiser Claudia Fenerol, both thanked 
the U.S. for its financial support to the PACT Virtual University 
network, which will allow experts to stay current on cancer therapy 
practices, etc.  Samiei underscored the importance of the USG also 
sponsoring a cost-free expert (CFE) health economist, which will now 
allow PACT to work with countries to plan financially for cancer 
control programs. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Samiei intimated separately to Msnoff that some resistance 
continued from those within the Agency who did not see the value of 
PACT.  While change is difficult in any institution, Samiei said, he 
hoped that with new management (read: new Director General Amano as 
of December 1), there will be more internal acceptance of PACT.  He 
said there is some indication of this because Amano plans to travel 
with Samiei to Nigeria in December to launch a new PACT country 
program.  (Note: If this trip materializes, it would be the first 
travel the in-coming DG undertakes -- a signal from him of the 
importance of developing countries in the IAEA as well as a 
commitment to IAEA activism in the cancer field.  End Note) 
 
¶5.  (U)  In response to questions about absorption capacity should 
the U.S. and others increase PACT funding through a larger regular 
budget or voluntary contributions, both Samiei and Fenerol maintain 
that PACT can handle a budgetary increase as long as program 
implementation and staffing tracks concurrently.  Fenerol said 
hypothetically if PACT had a consistent yearly budget of USD 5 
million, it could: 1) hire two project management staff to conduct 
exploratory trips (maximum 20 a year) prior to imPACT assessments 
and complete 20 imPACT assessments per year; 2) complete 7-12 imPACT 
peer reviews per year; and 3) ensure the current PACT Model 
Demonstration Sites are adequately funded (if resource were not 
mobilized from other sources). 
 
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How PACT Can Grow 
----------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Comment: The USG has been a supporter of PACT since its 
inception.  We correctly hold it up as a model of how the IAEA 
should promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology in a 
 
results-based manner that focuses on cost effectiveness and building 
sustainable partnerships between recipient countries and donors. 
Given USG interest in promoting the peaceful use of nuclear 
technology, one option may be providing PACT with a fixed, 
multi-year contribution for further program implementation.  Such a 
contribution would need to provide funding for three to four program 
management staff to conduct exploratory trips, imPACT assessments, 
and imPACT implementation, as well as funding for a communications 
and partnerships expert to coordinate work with other UN Agencies 
and NGOs.  End Comment. 
 
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