The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has signed on 11 of the largest professional societies in cancer care to help improve access to radiotherapy worldwide through its Rays of Hope initiative.
The organizations signed the IAEA's Practical Arrangements on Technical Professional Society Partnerships in Cancer Care, the IAEA's first multilateral partnership on radiation oncology, medical physics, and diagnostic imaging spanning the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe, and the Middle East.
The 11 professional societies who signed the arrangement include the following:
- The African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine
- American Society for Radiation Oncology
- Arab Medical Association Against Cancer
- Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology
- European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology
- Federation of Asian Organizations for Radiation Oncology (FARO)
- Ibero Latin American Radiation Oncology Association
- International Cancer Expert Corps
- Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists
- Royal College of Radiologists
The partnership was signed 10 months after the IAEA launched the Rays of Hope initiative, a vehicle through which the IAEA supports countries to establish or scale up safe, secure and effective radiation medicine capabilities, with the goal of bridging a major gap in equipment and highly skilled personnel in many developing countries, according to the agency.
