Making a Difference Around the World
Melanoma is a global disease, with the incidence increasing worldwide. But treatment and advocacy are vastly different in the U.S. compared to many other countries and regions of the world. In the U.S., AIM at Melanoma and other patient advocacy organizations continuously push for access to medicines, regulatory improvements, and research, but in most other countries around the world, patient advocacy is still in its infancy.
To address this inequity and its effect on melanoma patients worldwide, in 2014 AIM formed the Melanoma International Patient Advocacy Coalition (MIPAC) to collaborate with organizations across the globe in their efforts to increase awareness and change public perceptions of melanoma, empower melanoma patients to take an active role in their care, and effect change in regulatory policies to optimize treatment and care.
Providing the Melanoma Community Global Support
This international coalition is composed of patient advocacy organizations and patient advocates from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Eastern Europe, France, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
The advocates are committed to educating patients and their caregivers/families about melanoma, ensuring access to clinical trials and approved drugs, facilitating the approval process in their respective countries, and raising awareness about prevention and early detection of the disease. Each organization is legally recognized, independently run, and active on social media.
AIM funds a number of projects for each advocacy organization in order to obtain better outcomes for melanoma patients and the caregivers/families they represent, regardless of the environmental and political landscapes in which they operate.
AIM provides both funding and content for websites, social media campaigns, and traditional media campaigns. Many of AIM’s educational materials are translated for use in these countries/regions, including AIM’s website.
MIPAC members and AIM leadership meet yearly, at the Post-Chicago Melanoma/Skin Cancer meeting held in Munich. This conference allows the advocates the opportunity to be updated on the ever-evolving melanoma landscape as well as to network with key opinion leaders and healthcare professionals.
The meeting, the funding, and the materials give the advocates the tools and resources to successfully advocate on behalf of their melanoma communities.
Our Melanoma International Patient Advocacy Coalition
