By Esin Aysil Kandemir, Pharmacist, Turkish Medicines And Medical Devices Agency, and Chair, Advocacy Committee

With a new year ahead, the Advocacy Committee is in close collaboration with international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO). The Cancer Manual includes resources adapted treatment regimens for low- and middle-income countries and is also linked to the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML). It will be developed in collaboration with WHO in the following months of this year. 

The members of the Advocacy Committee will also participate in the working groups of the Cancer Manual and will represent ISOPP. Karunrat Tewthanom from Thailand takes part in the Lung Cancer Working Group, while I joined the essential medicines list (EML) cancer working group. Alexandre (USA), Monica (Malaysia), Lisa (USA), Mario (Brazil), and Amah (Ghana) are currently working on the anti-emetic recommendations for the Cancer Manual.
Besides that, the Advocacy Committee will be starting to work on the survey/audit of compliance to ISOPP Standards for the Safe Handling of Cytotoxics (doi: 10.1177/10781552211070933) in collaboration with the International Union for Cancer Control (UICC). 

Another task is writing a position paper about the healthcare disparities between high-income countries and lower- and middle-income countries due to the healthcare professional exodus. We will create a working group in a short time and start with the position paper.

If you are interested in joining the Advocacy Committee, feel free to contact me (esaykandemir@gmail.com) or John (john.wiernikowski@gmail.com).