Good evening and thank you very much for being here today, in Paris, at the opening ceremony of the World Cancer Congress. The next three days, researchers, healthcare administrators, scientists, medical practitioners, academics and health workers, will be dedicated to identifying new challenges, sharing strategies and shaping and defining better guidelines and standards to improve the fight against cancer. Following this path, all of you – and of course patient group supporters and everyone involved in cancer control- will work in the coming years in order to reduce the incidence of this disease on a global scale.
Therefore, I shall leave the details to you, the experts. But, - if I may - I would like to share with you just two messages.
"...Sin dejar de lado la atención y el apoyo que los pacientes y sus familias merecen, hay que continuar con la investigación científica. Los recursos destinados a estos medios son de suma importancia debido a los crecientes costes de los nuevos tratamientos. Los tratamientos deben ser asequibles y accesibles, en igualdad de condiciones, para todos los seres humanos..."
Firstly, more than half of the most common cancers are preventable. So, it was never better said that what we eat, drink, breathe and the ways we act and live are of vital importance. All of you know what I mean and so should the population in general, both in the developed and developing countries.
Secondly, and without leaving behind the care and support that patients and their families rightly deserve; please, let us keep up with the scientific research. Resources dedicated to these means are paramount due to the ever increasing costs of new treatments. Treatments that should be affordable and accessible, on equal terms, to every human being.
Let me finish by saying that, for some years now, I have been the honorary president of the Spanish Association Against Cancer, the Spanish private institution which devotes the largest amount of funds to research. Out of our own initiative and with the backing of many other important worldwide entities, we launched September 24th as World Cancer Research Day. An achievement to pave and continue the only possible way into progress: oncology research.
My deep gratitude goes to all you and most especially to the Union for International Cancer Control for inviting me today. I do hope that these days will be very fruitful. The stakes remain very high. Thank you very much.