Within the World Health Organization-International Atomic Energy Agency (WHO-IAEA) collaboration for delivery of technical assistance to its Member States, the National Cancer Control Programme/Plan (NCCP) Core Capacity Self-Assessment Tool has been used to obtain a simple and quick qualitative overview of national cancer control planning and on-going activities. The NCCP tool was applied in 50 Member States, which were classified as low- and middle-income countries in 2012. Results show that half of these countries reported having officially endorsed an NCCP and 42% were in the process of preparing or updating one. Overall, the most relevant cancer control interventions reported to be partially developed or well established in most countries were related to the cancer prevention, early detection of cervical and breast cancers, as well as diagnosis and treatment of curable cancers. Contrarily, patient's rehabilitation, psychosocial support, human papilloma virus vaccination, breast cancer screening with mammography and control of occupational carcinogens were noted as being in early development phases. The availability of crucial resources to support interventions was perceived to be the highest in upper middle-income countries. These findings highlight specific areas where WHO, IAEA and partners could strengthen collaboration with countries to leverage on-going interventions and improve availability of resources.

Background: Treatment is an important component of a comprehensive cancer control approach and its outcomes strongly depend on infrastructure, equipment, human and financial resources available. Therefore it is imperative to generate evidence-based tools to assist health policy makers from low resourced countries in planning efficient and equitable treatment services for a defined population based on what it is feasible to these settings. Methods: The intended cancer specific treatment planned and written in the patients' medical record (treatment prescription) of untreated adult cancer cases (≥18 years of age), excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, was recorded in a chronological way from 1 January 2012 onwards in a group of eight comprehensive cancer centres located in middle income countries and offering the main modalities of cancer * Affiliations are as of 1 March 2014. # Corresponding author. R. Camacho et al.990 treatment (surgery, medical oncology and radiotherapy). Results: A total of 17,713 medical records were reviewed, of which 7106 (54.2%) met the eligibility criteria. Prescription of main cancer treatment modalities were distributed as follows: 57.6% for chemotherapy (n = 4093), 56.8% for surgery (n = 4038), and 46.8% for radiotherapy (n = 3327). There was a predominance of plans consisting of combined treatment modalities over monotherapy (55.2% versus 44.8%). At the time of diagnosis 54.3% of the cancer cases had disease that had spread beyond the primary site, 41.2% were considered as having local disease and in 4.5% of the cases the information on disease extension was unknown. Conclusions: The results obtained should be seen as an approximation of cancer treatment service demand based on what it is currently practiced and therefore feasible in developing countries, particularly in middle income countries.

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