The Afghan Cancer Foundation Bay Area Visit

Entry by Yagana Parwak.

The Afghan Cancer Foundation (ACF) visited the Bay Area in February 2017. During this 3-day visit, HEEDA hosted ACF at numerous events to bolster local support for ACF's mission to find and fight cancer in Afghanistan. This entry relates to events on the days following the fundraiser held in Fremont, CA (click here for more that event). 

The 2 days following the fundraiser members of HEEDA introduced the Chief Executive of ACF, Dr. Abdullah Maihan, to 2 of the world's most advanced cancer research and treatment facilities: Stanford Cancer Institute and the UCSF Cancer Center. The meetings were intended to expand the network of ACF and to solicit support for the newly formed Foundation that is literally starting from scratch and hoping to provide cancer can for an entire nation. Here is a brief summary of the events and those involved: 

1) Monday, 27 February 2017

ACF + Stanford University Cancer Center Meeting and Tour

Stanford University, CA

On Monday, February 27^th 2017, Dr. Sumit Shah kindly facilitated a meetings and tour of the Stanford Cancer Center. This included:

·      Hodgkin's Tumor Board Case Conference

·      Meet with Dr. Ranjana Advani, director of Stanford Lymphoma Program

·      Meet with Dr. Branimir Sikic, Professor of Oncology and Dev Therapeutics. Dr. Sikic has previously advised Croatia on a National Cancer Program

·      Tour of Stanford Hospital, ending at the Cancer Center

2) Tuesday, 28 February 2017

ACF, HEEDA + UCSF Global Cancer Program Meeting

UCSF Mission Bay, San Francisco, CA

On Tuesday, February 28^th 2017, ACF, HEEDA and the UCSF Global Cancer Center met to discuss opportunities for shared collaboration and support between ACF and UCSF Global Cancer Center. The following attendees were present:

 Dr. Katherine Van Loon, MD MPH

UCSF Global Cancer Center Director

Dr. Deirdre Olynick, PhD MBA

UCSF Global Cancer Center Associate Director

Dr. Maihan Abudllah, MD MPH

ACF Director

Miss Suraya Rashid

ACF Board Member, HEEDA Representative

Dr. Ron Balassanian MD

UCSF Global Cancer Center Faculty, Pathologist

The meeting allowed for all three organizations to become familiar with each other’s work and we identified three opportunities for collaboration:

1.    Developing and implementing a National Cancer Registry

2.    Knowledge Attitudes and Practices (KAP) survey for providers regarding cancer

3.    Ways to address pathologist and pathology shortages in Afghanistan

The next step is to articulate these expectations in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ACF, HEEDA and UCSF Global Cancer Center.   

FINDING & FIGHTING CANCER IN AFGHANISTAN

The Afghan Cancer Foundation (ACF) visited the Bay Area in February 2017. During this 3-day visit, HEEDA hosted ACF at numerous events to bolster local support for ACF's mission to find and fight cancer in Afghanistan. This entry relates to day 1.

On Sunday February 26, 2017 HEEDA sponsored a fundraising event to support the first Afghanistan Cancer Center built by the newly inaugurated ACF that will diagnose and treat cancer within the country's borders. A special thank you to our co-sponsors of the event at the Afghan Coalition. 

The evening consisted of a tea reception provided by the Afghan Coalition, followed by presentations by members of HEEDA and Dr. Abdullah Maihan, Chief Executive of the ACF. The evening ended with traditional Afghan dinner and music.

The highlight of the evening was a roundtable discussion by medical professionals active in the diagnosis, treatment and management of cancer. Namely, the panel consisted of Dr. Sumit Shah, Oncologist at Stanford University, Dr. Ahmad Sadeq, Oncologist at Washington hospital, as well as Dr. Abdullah Maihan. The discussion was moderated by our own Dr. Edris Afzali. 

From left to right: Dr. Sumit Shah, Dr. Abdullah Maihan, and Dr. Ahmad Sadeq discussing the challenges of fighting cancer in the developing world. 

The event was attended and supported by approximately 200 member of the Afghan-American community, media, as well as other local organizations. All cash proceeds were donated directly to support the Afghan Cancer Foundation. 

HEEDA's awesome crew the night of the event

A Simple, Effective Way to Reduce Infant Mortality

Leeda Rashid has seen how Embrace can make a difference in places such as Afghanistan, where she runs HEEDA, a health non-profit.

Q: HOW DID YOU CONNECT WITH EMBRACE?

A: My husband, who’s also a physician, and I looked through the technology and some basic research that was already done at Stanford on the Embrace, and we thought, my goodness, this is very appropriate for hospitals in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is notorious for poor grid access. If you’re a hospital that happens to be in a neighborhood that has a lot of rolling blackouts, you’re not going to be able to use a lot of the medical technologies out there. Through our nonprofit, we’ve deployed upwards of 75 to 80 of the warmers [in Afghanistan]. We’re in four of the largest public-sector hospitals. We’re at a little more than 10,000 uses over the last three years. We’re now working to do what the minister of health wants. He says the product needs to go out to rural Afghanistan. That’s where a lot of the deliveries are happening, and there is virtually no electricity there.

Q: THE RURAL SETTING MUST BE EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.

A: Our first step is to start using them in public ambulances. On a recent trip, I was assessing the ambulance sites to see if Embrace can be used during delivery between someone’s home, or from a rural clinic, to the larger, district-level hospitals.

Read full article HERE: bit.ly/reducingmortality

Learn more about HEEDA: www.heeda.org