Cities Taking Action for Gender Equity in Cancer Care
Summary
In 2024, City Cancer Challenge (C/CAN) committed to strengthen gender-responsive cancer care across its network of 15 cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. This includes prioritizing women’s unique clinical needs in cancer care guidelines, training health workforce professionals, and advocating for policies that center women’s physical, mental, and financial health in cancer care. C/CAN also works alongside city health care providers to establish gender-informed cancer care standards to improve effectiveness, safety, and quality of treatment. The seven-year initiative (2024-2030) will be initially rolled out to three cities: Leon, Mexico; Nairobi, Kenya; and Tbilisi, Georgia, where an estimated 3.8 million women currently live.
Approach
The City Cancer Challenge Foundation (C/Can) is committed to a world in which every individual has equitable access to essential cancer care. To address the widening care gap among women in LMICs, C/Can will launch an ambitious initiative aimed at integrating a gender-responsive health systems approach across its network of 15 cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The seven-year initiative (2024-2030) will be initially rolled out to three cities: Leon, Mexico, Nairobi, Kenya, and Tbilisi, Georgia, where an estimated 3.8 million women currently live.
The initiative will leverage the C/Can City Engagement Process Framework to empower stakeholders to systematically apply a gender lens in assessing, planning, and implementing solutions, focusing on five key dimensions:
Patient-Centric Care: Ensure cancer care guidelines prioritize women’s needs, empowering their health and treatment decisions.
Development of Human Capital: Provide avenues for women in the healthcare workforce to enhance their skills and leadership potential.
Equitable Access to Cancer Care Services: Support policymakers to ensure cancer care policies center women’s physical, mental, and financial health, while addressing gender-based barriers to care.
Quality of Cancer Care: Work with city healthcare providers to establish cancer care standards that prioritize effectiveness, safety, and quality from a gender-sensitive perspective.
Local Knowledge Generation: Create opportunities within and between C/Can cities to exchange best practices on gender-responsive cancer care.
A blueprint, co-created with local stakeholders alongside experts that include LCWC researchers, will tailor gender-responsive solutions to each city’s context and ensure sustainability and scalability of efforts. To support its partners, C/Can will mobilize local implementing teams, overseen by C/Can’s city managers, and will draw upon C/Can’s combined expertise in Technical Cooperation, Capacity Development, Health Financing, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Action Plan
Q1 2025
Revised C/Can city needs assessment questionnaire to integrate a gender lens.
Updated C/Can technical cooperation project plans to include a dedicated “gender plan”.
Phase II: Cities Driving Implementation (2025-2028) Q4 2025
Finalized city implementation plan in the three cities, developed through a participatory co-creation process, including a city workshop.
Q4 2026
Drafted women and cancer nexus status report in each city, summarizing existing evidence and new research supported by this commitment, including an analysis of patient-, provider-, health-systems-, and policy-level factors affecting cancer outcomes for women.
Q1 2026:
Expanded LPWO program to include a train-the-trainer approach.
Established mentorship program between city healthcare workforce and technical partners.
Established communities of practice, focused on collaborative learning and best practice dissemination.
Q1 2026
Gender parity established in all C/Can City Steering Committees.
Q1 2027
Revised city cancer management guidelines to prioritize gender equity.
Q1 2028
Gender-responsive patient navigation programs operational in the three cities.
Q4 2028
Disseminated results of the implementation of the gender-responsive plans to city governance bodies through a series of policy dialogues.
Phase III: Impact Assessment, Scale-up & Knowledge Dissemination (2025-30) Q4 2028
Research undertaken on innovations successfully scaled to advance gender responsiveness within health systems.
Q1 2029
Finalized C/Can gender and cancer care global assessment report.
Q3 2029-Q3 2030
Shared findings and lessons from the initiative’s implementation in the three cities at key global health and oncology forums, events, and meetings.
Background
Cancer is the world’s second leading cause of death, claiming almost 10 million lives every year, and no demographic faces a higher disease and financial burden from cancer than women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) .
According to the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer (LCWC) , two-thirds of the 1.2 million young adults (under age 40) diagnosed with cancer in 2020 were women. Most (72%) premature female deaths (under age 70) occur in LMICs. Social and financial inequality and women’s status within a society contribute to a widening care gap that is costing lives: a reality largely neglected by traditional approaches to healthcare.
Cancer care, research, data collection, and policy too often ignore women’s needs and underestimate the disease burden they face in LMICs. These systemic failures are exacerbated by power imbalances that exclude women from leadership roles across academia, research, healthcare, and health policy. The WHO reports that men hold three-quarters of leadership positions in healthcare; meanwhile, female healthcare professionals report frequent experiences of bullying and sexual harassment and healthcare workers are unprepared to address women’s unique health needs due to a lack of gender-sensitive training.
Together, these inequities put women, especially those from marginalized backgrounds who experience additional layers of discrimination including race and socioeconomic status, at a devastating disadvantage as lower health literacy, stigmatization, and systemic discrimination prevent timely diagnosis and treatment.
A staggering 800,000 women out of the 2.3 million who die prematurely from cancer every year could potentially be saved through improved access to optimal care (LCWC) , but achieving this will require breaking down the barriers faced by women in LMICs. This begins with a health systems approach that considers intersectionality, prioritizes gender equity, and integrates gender considerations into cancer policies and guidelines. Only then will all women have access to the interventions that can lead to the best possible outcomes.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
C/Can invites partners to join efforts to amplify its impact and improve the lives of 3.8 million women in these pilot cities. Partners can contribute through financial resources and/or in-kind support, including sharing technical and local expertise, strengthening best practices, and expanding C/Can’s network of experts.
Contributions will support the implementation of the action plan across three phases in the pilot cities. Commitment partners will have the opportunity to actively participate in efforts taking place on-the-ground, such as expanding the LPWO program to integrate a train-the-trainer approach, establishing a mentorship program and a community of practice, implementing patient navigation programs, and supporting research and evidence generation.
C/Can is seeking partners with experience in sustaining gender-based health initiatives and successfully scaling local programs to a national level to ensure long-term sustainability and enduring impact. Together with C/Can partners, this initiative will help shape the future of gender equity in cancer care., C/Can is committed to offering in-kind and financial partners a unique opportunity to contribute meaningfully to a landmark initiative aimed at building lasting gender-responsive health care systems for cancer care. Partners will connect with some of the world’s leading experts in gender health equity, national and city leaders, and experienced cancer care practitioners from C/Can’s network of 15 cities across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
Through this commitment, partners will gain access to valuable resources, including research findings, best practices, knowledge tools, and impact data. This data can be used to support corporate social responsibility efforts and fulfilling ESG reporting requirements. Partners will also have the chance to participate in key events, meetings, and dialogues, actively shaping programs that advance women’s cancer care and the leadership of female health professionals. Additionally, commitment partners may be eligible for financial support to implement programs locally.