Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks

April 2012 marks the beginning of the Partnership’s second five-year mandate and the next phase of implementing Canada’s national cancer strategy. The priorities and initiatives for the next five years are outlined in our 2012-2017 strategic plan, Sustaining Action Toward a Shared Vision. Our website will soon be updated to reflect the activities supporting the strategic plan. The information below reflects the priorities and accomplishments of our work between 2007 and 2012. 

Fostering collaboration to reduce information gaps and enhance surveillance capacity

Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks stimulate creation of timely, multidisciplinary, high-quality information products that can be used to shape and monitor cancer control interventions. This Partnership initiative contributes to the reduction of information gaps and enhances cancer surveillance capacity by connecting experts across the country and fostering collaboration among jurisdictions and disciplines.

In 2009, four pan-Canadian Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks (CSEN), listed below, were launched to connect experts, practitioners and policy specialists working in cancer and to foster collaboration across disciplines and jurisdictions.   With an overall goal to reduce information gaps, each network produces, disseminates and increases the use of high-quality Canadian cancer surveillance information that includes national, provincial and territorial perspectives. Collaboration with, and reports to, stakeholders from over 40 organizations — the experts from across the country who rely on high-quality surveillance information to improve cancer control — have been crucial to the progress of this initiative. 

Progress to date

• In the fall of 2008, following a request for proposals, the Partnership selected four pan-Canadian Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks.
• In February 2009, the Cancer Surveillance Stakeholders Forum, which brought together more than 80 cancer surveillance analysts and information users to initiate discussions between users of cancer surveillance information and four analytic networks.   The Cancer Surveillance Stakeholder Forum report includes key learnings and meeting discussions.
• In May 2009, a workshop in Ottawa brought together principal investigators and knowledge-translation experts to explore and build strategies to address gaps in cancer surveillance information and to enhance the uptake of this information by various audiences.
• By the end of the summer of 2009, the four selected Networks were operating and had begun to develop analytical programs and methodological guidance documents.
• In February 2010 and March 2011, Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks training workshops were held for junior analysts.  The first workshop focused on introductory analytic methods in cancer surveillance and the second one, in Partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, focused on short- and long-term projection methods.  Both workshops were held as part of ongoing efforts to support capacity building.
• In October 2010, a literature review of strategies for translating cancer surveillance knowledge and practices, titled Knowledge Translation in Cancer Surveillance, was completed. Intended for information seekers in cancer and chronic disease organizations, the review showed that enhancing the typical user’s knowledge of current data — and data interpretation skills — could improve the use of existing information in decision-making.
• Tools and reports developed by the Cancer Surveillance and Epidemiology Networks are housed on cancerview.ca. These materials serve as resources for members of the Networks and for information seekers from the cancer surveillance community.
• In the summer of 2010, an International Scientific Advisory Committee was established to assess the scientific value of the initiative, and of the work performed and information generated by the networks. This committee also advises on building strategic linkages with international leaders in cancer surveillance and epidemiology. In October 2010, the committee met with the Networks in Toronto and issued its initial scientific review.
• A comprehensive evaluation focusing on the design, delivery, implementation, performance, impact, and sustainability of the networks and overall initiative is underway and expected to be completed in March 2012.

The four pan-Canadian analytic networks are:

• The Hospice Palliative End-of-Life Care Surveillance Network: This network aims to improve the quality and use of existing data to better understand the characteristics of terminally ill cancer patients and their resource use in the final year of life. These goals will be achieved through the establishment of a web-based end-of-life care surveillance system; creation of information products; improvements in the quality and use of existing electronic data sources to enhance end-of-life care policy planning, resource monitoring, and clinical decision-making; and engagement in knowledge translation and capacity building.
• The Cancer Survival and Prevalence Analytic Network: Survival and prevalence, two essential measures of cancer control success, are not routinely estimated or recorded by Canada’s cancer registries, despite increasing interest in these statistics. This network aims to analyze, synthesize and disseminate cancer-related survival and prevalence information for up to 10 years after diagnosis. This network will serve the surveillance community through the creation of surveillance products and sustainable analytic capacity in survival and prevalence statistics across Canada.
• The Colorectal Cancer Network: With an identified need for a rigorous, systematic, comprehensive examination of the burden of colorectal cancer, this network aims to explore interprovincial variations, complex trends and socio-demographic disparities in colorectal cancer using data from provincial cancer registries. Knowledge exchange through the dissemination of information products, sharing of expertise, and training of junior analysts is integral to this network.
• The Cancer Projections Network: This network aims to conduct a nationally integrated assessment of cancer incidence and mortality trends and to design and implement innovative, standardized methodologies to predict the future cancer incidence and mortality across the country. This network will enhance efficiency and access to data, increase capacity through knowledge sharing, and produce standardized methods and results that can be applied within and across Canadian jurisdictions.