Our Why
Equal access to cancer care
Elekta Foundation exists to give everyone equal access to the best cancer care.
Where you live should not determine how long and how well you live.
We know that cancer is the second largest cause of death, growing twice as fast as other diseases. This is accentuated in regions around the world that have little access to cancer infrastructure and cancer technology. There is a strong correlation between regions with high cancer cases and those that have low access to health staff training and efficient cancer treatment technology. Global cancer incidences are growing at 2% per year with more than half of all new cases coming from Emerging Markets (Source: GLOBOCAN 2020) Approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries” WHO 2018.
The Elekta Foundation’s work relies on effective and goal-oriented collaboration with innovative partners who share our mission. The importance of co-working in extended partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaborations with NGOs, foundations, governments, and academic partners is crucial to achieving accessible cancer treatment for all. This is a core priority for our work in delivering state-of-the-art solutions to make cancer care fair and equal.
Elekta Foundation’s work and focus involve a wider engagement to strengthen cancer care in low resource settings by harnessing institutional funding, philanthropic support, corporate donations, and voluntary engagement.
We know that radiotherapy plays a vital role in cancer care, but access is still limited in many parts of the world. 50% of all patients will benefit from it, but only 30% can access it: 70% of global radiotherapy equipment serves only 25% of the world’s population (DIRAC and UN population).
There are fewer cancer healthcare professionals in low-income countries. Elekta Foundation aims to change this by attracting, training, and nurturing new talent via vocational educational programs that augment an individual’s existing healthcare training to provide world-class cancer treatment.
Elekta Foundation believes that everyone should have access to the best cancer treatment, technology, training, and rehabilitation. Additionally, the use of digital tools and the improvement of diagnosis with the support of AI are essential to advancing cancer care in the regions where we are active.
Elekta Foundation began its work in Rwanda in Africa in 2022. Africa will be an important continent for continued efforts, among other things as a consequence of growing populations, a lack of prevention awareness and poor access to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy inhibits cancer treatment. Economic stability in these areas prevents effective educational programs from being possible.
Regardless of this, we will also implement our working model together with partners in other countries where there is an interest from the government to contribute to better and sustainable cancer care.
There are fewer cancer healthcare professionals and radiotherapists in these regions. Elekta Foundation is committed to attracting, training and nurturing new via vocational educational programs that augment an individual’s existing healthcare training to provide world class cancer treatment.