Breast cancer remains a deadly health concern worldwide and approximately 685,000 women and men lose their lives to this disease annually.

This month, AHF launched a social media campaign on BREAST CANCER AWARENESS to help disseminate crucial information on the topic, promoting learning and engagement opportunities among multiple stakeholders in the healthcare environment. We published a comprehensive report entitled Expert Task Force: Clinical Practice Guidelines and Public Health Policy for Metastatic Breast Cancer in Latin America with recommendations to improve access to and quality of care for patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in Latin America on our website and shared it on our social media platform along with infographics with key information on breast health.

The report was developed in a Task Force conducted by AHF and sponsored by Pfizer involving 29 Latin American key opinion leaders (KOLs) in breast health, including experts in mastology, oncology, pathology, surgical oncology, and patient advocacy leaders. As the focus of the report was clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and public policy for mBC in Latin America, the selected experts addressed the impact of health policies on the current situation of the guidelines within the CPGs for mBC and their application in the region. Experts concluded that, although there has been progress in the policy landscape for mBC, challenges remain. Among them are the need for updated national CPGs, the lack of timely diagnosis, difficulty of access to treatment, and a large gap in national population-based cancer registries.

We encourage you to learn more about the current barriers to improving mBC care in Latin America and how to address them by reading the full report here. An infographics summary can also be seen here.

OTHER AHF NEWS

We recently announced that in November 2024, AHF will be conducting – now for the second time – the Congress on Rare Diseases for Latin America and the Caribbean. Opportunities for sponsorship and partnership for this event are open, and more information will be released soon. STAY TUNED and learn more about the 1st Congress on Rare Diseases for Latin American and the Caribbean here – it was a groundbreaking event with a patient-centric and policy-driven agenda. A full report can be downloaded here.

As our focus and commitment to excellence in our field remains unwavering, we are delighted to inform that, this November, AHF is set to hold an in-person Board Meeting and Staff retreat, as part of our strategic planning endeavors.

Moreover, in our commitment to improving healthcare throughout the Americas and beyond, AHF has partnered with Bamberg Health for two upcoming events:

• The first event, the South America Healthcare Innovation Summit, will take place in Bogotá, Colombia, October 25th. Dr. Mariana Rico, our Regional Medical Director, will participate as a speaker, addressing how to improve access to innovative therapies and medicine in the region. You can register at no cost here.
• The second event, the North America Rare Disease Summit 2023, will take place in New York, November 2nd. Felicitas Colombo, our Director of Public Affairs, will participate in the panel addressing policies and government initiatives for rare diseases. You can register here.

Finally, this month we have welcomed Marcela Santos Navas to the team, joining as a Project Manager. We will certainly benefit from her extensive professional experience and background in Psychology and Social Inclusion of People Living with Disabilities. Welcome, Marcela!

For any inquiries regarding opportunities to collaborate and work together towards improving access to transformative healthcare around the globe, send a message to our Director of Marketing Communications at tvidal@the-ahf.org.