Partnership makes a difference

Impact is about making a difference, about having a demonstrable effect. With a large-scale population health challenge as complex as controlling cancer, collectively we need to make significant headway on many fronts. We must address needs that range from catching cancer earlier and improving quality across the cancer system, to supporting patients through the cancer journey, driving innovative research, and of course, improving disease prevention.

The Partnership opened its doors in April 2007, created to shape and implement Canada’s national cancer control strategy. With nearly half of all Canadians developing cancer in their lifetimes and approximately one in four expected to die from the disease, this is urgent work.

To reduce these numbers we must tackle some fundamental cancer control questions:

• What are we doing to save more lives today?
• How will better information make a difference?
• How are we addressing gaps in the human side of cancer?
• How can we prevent cancer and other chronic diseases?
• What are the benefits of sharing what we know?
• Who is making sense of the evidence?
• How we measure success today and make better choices tomorrow?

In the 2010 Impact Report, these eight critical cancer questions are each linked to a sampling of the Partnership’s work. Together these snapshots create a composite picture of cancer control in Canada: where we have come from; where we are today; and what lies ahead. The impact described in the report also illustrates what is possible when the cancer and health communities across Canada come together to achieve something as critical and significant as controlling cancer.