In 2019, the CSF worked actively with the Nordic Cancer Union, the Association of European Cancer Leagues, and the Union for International Cancer Control. The CSF was also involved, either directly or indirectly, in the work of international organisations linked to CSF activity. ECL (Association of European Cancer Leagues). CSF representatives attended the annual meeting of the ECL in Luxembourg in November. The CSF Secretary-General will continue as the chairperson of the ECL, a position he took up in 2015. The number of members of the ECL increased with three new member organisations, and it now has 29 member organisations from 24 countries. The CSF has participated in the work of ECL’s Patient Support working group, which has discussed, among other things, the return to work of cancer patients, volunteering, rehabilitation and problems with insurance. In addition, we are involved in the Access to Medicines Task Force. IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer, specialised cancer research agency of the World Health Organization) and the Finnish Cancer Registry cooperate in research, especially in screening and research on the cancer burden in developing countries. The Director of Statistics at the Finnish Cancer Registry is a member of the IARC Scientific Council. Elisabete Weiderpass, who has Finnish citizenship and has worked as a researcher at the Cancer Registry, started as the new director of IARC at the beginning of 2019. The CSF took the initiative to nominate Weiderpass and actively worked for it in Finland and internationally. iPAAC (Innovative Partnership for Action Against Cancer). The CSF is responsible for the totality of cancer prevention, early detection and cancer screening in a new joint action project, which began in April 2018 and lasts for three years. The iPAAC is a project funded by the EU Health Programme, in which Finland is represented by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the CSF. The iPAAC project has a total of 10 work packages. The project is already on the fourth Joint Action on cancer policy, so the aim is to gather ex-perience from previous projects as well (EPAAC, CANCON and JARC). iPAAC focuses on ways to put cancer policy into practice in EU countries. JARC. The CSF was appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as Finland’s representative in the three-year Joint Action on Rare Cancers (JARC), funded under the EU public health programme. The JARC started in October 2016 and ended in autumn 2019. The CSF was responsible for the project’s internal evaluation (WP3 Evaluation) and was involved in four other sub-projects of the Joint Action. The third, and last, meeting of the evaluation group was held in Helsinki in autumn 2019. NCU (Nordic Cancer Union). The NCU plays a number of important roles from the perspec-tive of the CSF. Among other things, it funds joint Nordic cancer research projects. The Can-cer Foundation pays the Finnish financial contribution to the NCU. A common web portal for the Nordic cancer registries, NORDCAN, has also been built with NCU support. The NCU also initiates and coordinates joint projects of cancer associations related to the development of cancer treatment and control. In 2019, as in previous years, the NCU awarded research grants of €750 000. Of these, three projects are headed by Finnish researchers. In addition, the NCU provided €250 000 in strategic funding, specifically for the development of the NORDCAN web portal. The chairmanship and secretarial duties of the NCU rotate from one member association to another every three years. From 2018 to 2020, NCU is led by the Danish Cancer Society. After that, it will be the turn of the CSF. Preparations, in the form of project work, for the chairmanship began in autumn 2019. UICC (Union for International Cancer Control). The head of the CSF’s health department took part in the World Cancer Leader’s Summit, held in Kazakstan. The CSF marked the celebration of UICC World Cancer Day on 4 February 2019 through communications activity in Finland. ICISG, FCA and other networks. The CSF has a representative in the International Cancer Information Service Group (ICISG). Funding for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Con-trol (FCTC) has been carried out by the worldwide Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), of which the CSF is a member. The CSF is also involved in Prevent20, the members of which are cancer associations in different countries and which aims to reduce tobacco products through taxation. At the Nordic level, there is a network of experts that meets regularly around issues concerning advice and tobacco policy. Since 2019, the CSF has had a representative in the Nordic Network for Overweight Prevention. The international activities of the Finnish Cancer Registry are covered in the section on the work of the registry.
