One of the side meetings at the AORTIC 2013 (African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer) in Durban was on the Cost of cancer in Africa: cost effectiveness of treating childhood cancer in Africa.
DCP3 author Sumit Gupta presented his work on cost-effectiveness of treating pediatric cancer, and DCP3 series editor Sue Horton presented on how to calculate cost and cost-effectiveness for cancer treatment in Africa. The session was jointly organized by colleagues from four institutions in South Africa, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Senegal, and included participants from all five regions of Africa (North, South, East, West and Central).
DCP3 cervical cancer lead author Lynette Denny served as a member of the AORTIC organizing committee.
Following presentations in the morning, the afternoon turned to discussion of how to move work on economic issues forward. It was resolved to start the "ACE-Network" (African Cancer Economics) with representatives from all five regions, with Sumit Gupta and Sue Horton to serve as resource persons. The group aims to start with a project on pediatric cancer cost-effectiveness research, and also to seek funding to undertake capacity-building in health economics.