The IAEA has signed agreements with Elekta and GE Healthcare as part of its ongoing collaboration with industry partners under the Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All initiative, aimed at to narrowing global disparities in cancer care. Under the agreement, Elekta will donate brachytherapy applicators and GE Healthcare will supply a mammography machine. The equipment will increase training and research opportunities for countries around the world at the IAEA Dosimetry Laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria.
"We are very grateful. Dosimetry is indispensable and needs to be made available for facilities, institutions, medical centres and teams all over the world," said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi at a signing ceremony on the margins of this week's IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science, Technology and Applications and the Technical Cooperation Programme.
The support from industry partners such as Elekta and GE Healthcare will help address global inequalities, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of women's cancers. While breast cancer survival rates in high income countries are above 90 per cent, women in low- and middle-income countries are twice as likely to die from the disease. They also face a higher incidence and mortality from cervical cancer - a preventable and curable disease when detected and treated early.
The applicators and treatment planning system from Elekta will support the IAEA's ongoing research on dosimetry for brachytherapy - a form of internal radiation therapy that directly targets tumour sites. "We are very proud to partner with the IAEA in the frame of Rays of Hope. We see here concrete actions in delivering and closing the gap in cancer care globally," said Elekta Chief Commercial Officer, Habib Nehme, at the event, emphasizing the key role of brachytherapy in eradicating cervical cancer.
The digital mammography system from GE Healthcare will support training on quality assurance and research on dosimetry. Designed to improve the early detection of tumours or other abnormalities in breast tissue, this imaging system can enable healthcare professionals to identify cancers at earlier, more treatable stages. "Our mission is to create a world where healthcare has no limits and we cannot create that on our own - we need strong partners," President and CEO of Imaging at GE Healthcare, Roland Rott, said. "We believe the IAEA is such a partner, especially to advance the safe use of these devices, and are very proud that to be here today."
The donations build on agreements signed between the IAEA and Elekta in 2023 and with GE Healthcare in 2022 and 2023.
Since its establishment in 1961, the IAEA's Dosimetry Laboratory has played a central role in guiding the medical uses of radiation in Member States. From calibration and audit services to research in medical physics to address clinical developments and technological innovations, the Laboratory helps to ensure that patients worldwide receive quality cancer care. As the central laboratory of the Network of Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratories (SSDLs) - run jointly by the IAEA and the World Health Organization since 1976 - the Dosimetry Laboratory calibrates SSDLs reference standards across the globe, which in turn are used to calibrate the equipment of end users such as hospitals and regulators.
With the entire world expected to face a significant rise in cancer cases over the next decades, there will be an increasing demand for the Laboratory's critical services. Low- and middle-income countries, in particular, will require an increase in skilled professionals, including radiation oncologists, imaging specialists, radiation therapists and medical physicists.
A recent IAEA-led Lancet Oncology Commission report noted that the current radiation medicine workforce would need to expand by more than 60 percent to address the projected surge in new cancer cases by 2050.
In February 2022, the IAEA launched the Rays of Hope initiative to accelerate progress in closing cancer care gaps. To date, more than 90 countries have signed up to participate, with nearly a dozen cancer facilities joining as Rays of Hope Anchor Centres, and over €80 million raised in support of the initiative.
