On 30 May 2025, Professor Zama Luvuno, Deputy Director of the Centre for Rural Health (CRH), played a leading role in shaping South Africa’s national cancer research agenda by facilitating the Treatment Panel at the National Cancer Research & Innovation Strategy Meeting, held at the AHRI Conference Centre in Durban.
This high-level workshop convened key stakeholders from government, academia, and research institutions—including the National Department of Health (NDoH), South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), UKZN, AHRI, WHO, and other regional partners—to strengthen collaboration and align efforts with the country’s national cancer strategy.
Hosted under the leadership of Professor Mike Sathekge (NuMeRI-UP), the meeting featured focused panel discussions on prevention, early detection, treatment, palliation, and survivorship. Prof. Luvuno led the Treatment Panel, bringing CRH’s distinctive rural health and systems strengthening lens into national conversations around equitable cancer care.
In doing so, CRH emphasised the importance of designing and implementing health system responses that are not only clinically effective but also equitable and socially just. The discussions highlighted the need for cancer care models that can adapt to the realities of resource-limited and rural settings, ensuring no community is left behind in national health advancements.
The day also featured a dynamic rapid-fire session presenting key research insights and a roundtable prioritisation exercise addressing funding needs, strategic alignment with the NDoH, and the most pressing research questions to guide national priorities.
This engagement marks a significant step in CRH’s ongoing commitment to inclusive, transformative research partnerships that drive system strengthening and promote social justice in health. By contributing a rural health perspective to the national cancer research agenda, CRH continues to ensure that innovation in South Africa reflects the needs and realities of all communities—particularly those that are often underserved.
