Sharing cancer knowledge globally brings benefits

Otago Professor Chris Jackson shares his experiences as a medical oncologist at last year's Chinese Congress on Holistic Integrative Oncology (CCHIO) in Xi'an. Photo: CCHIO

The opportunity to see firsthand how other countries are tackling cancer will bring real benefits, says University of Otago cancer expert Professor Chris Jackson.

"Seeing other healthcare systems in action is really where the gold lies," he says.

Late last year, Chris, a Dunedin medical oncologist, became the first Aotearoa New Zealand-based clinician to be selected as a board director for the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

He says it is a "huge honour" to be on the UICC board and have this opportunity to learn from other countries and share what is working well in New Zealand.

In the past 12 months, Chris, who is based in the Department of Medicine, has travelled to Australia, Canada, and Switzerland, as well as China and India, presenting on cancer care in New Zealand. He has also established and further developed relationships with cancer leaders worldwide.

"It's been great to meet with health system leaders to see how they are solving problems that we also have in New Zealand. It's bi-directional, so they are also looking at how we've addressed issues. We certainly have things to contribute."

It's a key time to be involved with the UICC, as the United Nations is expected to release a political declaration in November/December which will outline key priorities and commitments for tackling the burden of non-communicable diseases, including cancer.

In terms of where New Zealand's healthcare system sits, Chris says people who think we have a third-world system need only visit a developing country.

While in India this year, he toured a hospital where doctors saw more patients in a day than New Zealand specialists would see in a week.

But that's not to say there isn't room for service improvement in Aotearoa.

"We are, and should be, striving for better, but let's not denigrate the very good work that people in the health system do every day."

Chris says it's interesting to see different approaches to healthcare delivery, such as when he accompanied staff providing a range of cancer screening services in a rural Indian village, testing in a hall with no air conditioning in mid-30deg C temperatures.

This approach, which integrated screening and outreach, was more patient-focused and a good model for getting healthcare into under-served communities, he says.

Chris observes that, in general, people expect more from their healthcare systems when they are living in a society that is increasingly geared for them to do what they want, when they want. We should have responsive, patient-focused services, but that is a big challenge, especially as people are living longer and demand and costs are rising.

Chris sees one of his roles as being an intermediary between clinicians and bureaucracy. He believes he can bring to the table a "menu" of problems and solutions that are understandable and relatable.

As the co-lead for cancer on Health New Zealand's National Clinical Network, he says the network will help the country meet its goal of better, faster cancer care, provided closer to home.

"Cancer control in this country has been fairly introspective for the past 10-15 years, which was appropriate as we needed to get the infrastructure right. Now that's happened, we need to better understand the global context.

"The formation of Health New Zealand is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for genuine reform so we need to make the most of that."

- Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications