Collecting information about how many new cases of cancer occur in a year, what types of cancer are prevalent and where they occur most frequently, and how many people are currently dying of cancer is a vital part of the fight against cancer. This work, which is done by Cancer Registries, helps countries to understand the disease better and to use their resources to the best effect in prevention and treatment.

The INCTR Challenge Fund provides support for the INCTR Cancer Registry Programme, whose main project is the African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN). AFCRN acts as a consortium to provide a “Regional Hub” for cancer registries in Sub Saharan Africa as part of the Global Initiative for Cancer Registration of the IARC. Effective cancer registration provides governments with an accurate picture of the spread of the cancer epidemic in their country and acts as a reliable indicator of when cancer control measures are, or are not, working effectively.

The role of a regional hub is in:

* providing technical and scientific support to countries;
* delivering tailored training in population-based cancer registration and use of data;
* advocating the cause of cancer registration in the region and facilitating setting up associations and networks of cancer registries; and
* coordinating international research projects and disseminating findings

The Challenge Fund receives donations towards the INCTR Cancer Registry programme from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (USA) and the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) - Oncology division.