The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) have agreed to assist Vietnam in cancer control through the IAEA's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT).
OFID Director-General J. Al Herbish forwarded US$450,000 to IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano to implement this project.
Initiated in 2004, PACT aims to help low and middle income countries deal with the increasing cancer crisis. Together with its partners, the IAEA is committed to strengthening the control of cancer across the globe.
The IAEA and OFID have successfully implemented PACT projects in Ghana, Zambia, Uruguay, Albania, Nicaragua and Tanzania. Over the past three years, the OFID has provided non-refundable aid of $800,000 and loans of $15 million for the implementation of these projects.
IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano stressed that the anti-cancer struggle had become one of the organisation's top priorities as the non-infectious disease causes the most deaths in the world.
