I was invited to participate in this symposium organized by the Civil Society of Uruguay, together with almost 30 participants among which were Physicians, Representatives of Patient Organizations, Health Authorities from Latin America, and Europe.
The program aimed to highlight the role of the Patient Organizations and leverage their work at a regional level by the exchange of successful experiences, promote alliances, share knowledge, and identify possible joint actions looking forward to achieving equity in diagnosis and access to cancer treatments in Latin America.
The theme of the panel in which I participated representing Fundación GIST Chile and ACHAGO (Chilean Association of Cancer Patient Organizations) was: “How to strengthen the network between State Organisms and Patients”, in which I spoke of our experience advocating for access to GIST treatment in the “Ley Ricarte Soto”. The other speakers on this panel were: Daniel Olesker, (Uruguayan Senate Commission), Bernard Gaspar (Spanish Association of Lung Cancer Patients) and Carolina Goič (National Cancer Forum of Chile).
The dialogue was led by Alejandra Ray, a well-known oncologist and communicator from Uruguay.
During the meeting, I had the great gift to be able to meet with Roberto Fierro and his wife. Roberto is a GIST patient member of the international GIST patient community and of the LRG Patient Registry program.