TIPPS Working Group

Amongst HIC partners. I was interested (amused?) To see a survey yesterday in C4K asking how often we used MIBG scans to assess neuroblastoma response. The MIBG conjugated radioisotope for imaging is virtually unavailable in India so everyone uses PET-CT scanning. Our colleagues in Armenia send their patients to Russia if they really yearn for an MIBG scan. And I think the same story plays out across many LMIC and there are countries where even PET-CT scan is an unaffordable luxury. Part of me is glad we are trying to understand these real world issues, but why has it taken till 2021 to do so?

So one thing that is slowly becoming clear to me, interacting with practitioners from both LMIC and HIC in SIOP Global Health, is that the greatest need for PHO champions in LMIC is time-efficient support for their needs, ie old-fashioned mentoring to help curate the flood of online PHO information. The primary way this process will differ from "twinning" institutions is it will partner individuals. Accordingly, as soon as I get word about my co-Chair, we will begin the task of creating a list of partnering individuals (and confirming existing partnerships), and should have that completed by the end of Q3.