The ASCP Foundation is working to support the World Health Organization’s (WHO) humanitarian efforts to aid Ukrainian citizens—both refugees or those in-country—who have cancer. The ASCP Foundation is contributing $30,000. In addition, the Foundation will match up to $10,000 additional member contributions. It is hoped that at least $50,000 will be contributed.
More than two million refugees have fled Ukraine and have entered neighboring European countries. The immediate needs are immense, and cancer is a severely overlooked aspect of refugee health.
WHO is well positioned to play a key role in coordinating the response in Ukraine for both the immediate and long-term. In its coordinating capacity, WHO will establish a forum to facilitate planning for managing patients diagnosed with cancer, fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. This coordination mechanism will provide a platform for gathering intelligence, convening key stakeholders to develop an integrated plan, facilitate implementation and monitor impact.
“The ASCP Center for Global Health engages in outreach focused on communicable and non-communicable diseases in more than 30 countries,” says ASCP Chief Medical Officer Dan A. Milner, Jr., MD, MSc, FASCP, MBA. “Prior to this, ASCP’s work with Ukraine has focused on HIV. Just before the pandemic, we were starting to engage with Ukraine on cancer diagnostics. So this is a continuation of ASCP’s mission in global health.”
ASCP activities in cancer have included laboratory capacity building, training, expert diagnostic support, and advocacy. Where crises have occurred, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Puerto Rico hurricanes, the ASCP Center for Global Health—in collaboration with the ASCP Foundation—crafts outreach to specifically meet identified needs of patients and laboratorians.”
We encourage ASCP members to give generously to the ASCP Foundation in support of this humanitarian effort. Click
here to make your donation today!
