Princess Dina elected president of Union for Int’l Cancer Control

AMMAN — HH Princess Dina Mired on Tuesday was elected by the Union for International Cancer Control’s (UICC) general assembly as president, becoming the first Arab to assume the presidency of the UICC. 

Princess Dina, whose term starts in 2018 and concludes in 2020, is the first person who is not a medical specialist to assume the presidency of the UICC, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Wednesday.

The former director general of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF) was elected in appreciation of her work to combat the disease regionally and globally. 

The UICC, which includes 950 organisations from 155 countries, is one of the largest institutions around the world working to reduce the global burden of the disease and pushing for adding it to international health and development agendas, Petra reported. 

The princess was elected on the sidelines of a UICC conference held in Paris to discuss the latest advancements in applied sciences related to cancer.

Princess Dina said she was honoured to be elected by the UICC general assembly members, expressing her appreciation of being given the chance to work with the union’s “great team” to combat cancer.

Noting that 80 per cent of deaths in developing countries are caused by cancer, the princess stressed that “there is no time to waste”.

She urged work to ensure that all are able to access treatment wherever they are.

“It is not fair” that millions have to watch people dear to them struggle with cancer in the absence of any sort of treatment “just because” they live in the impoverished half of the planet, Petra quoted Princess Dina as saying.

The princess was director of the KHCF from 2002 to 2016 and has been active in combating smoking and promoting early check-up for breast cancer.

In early October, the Saudi Zahra Breast Cancer Association honoured Princess Dina Mired as the personality of 2016 for her work in raising awareness of breast cancer.