Why is the Cancer Equity Framework needed?
While Victoria has some of the best cancer care outcomes, not everyone benefits equally. Certain groups, such as Indigenous communities, people from culturally diverse backgrounds, those living in rural areas, and those facing financial difficulties, are not receiving the same level of care.
What is the Cancer Equity Framework?
The Cancer Equity Framework aims to make cancer care fair and accessible for everyone in Victoria, with a focus on groups who often face challenges in getting quality care. It aims to draw together organisations in the cancer care and control sector in a joint effort to address disparities in cancer outcomes. This approach needs to be comprehensive, guided by a long-term plan, and supported by strong coordination across the sector.
Who is the Framework for?
The Framework is designed for people across the healthcare system, including health services, researchers, educators, and leaders, as well as for communities and patients. It’s a roadmap to guide everyone involved in cancer care, research and training to work together to ensure that care is accessible and effective for all.
What are the focus areas for action?
Taking a whole-of-sector approach ensures that a commitment to health equity is embedded across all organisations within the cancer care sector. This is why the Cancer Equity Framework is centred around three key focus areas:
What are the domains of action?
Changing systems and culture is complex and is not a linear process. It involves many connected parts that can make planning and implementation challenging. This Framework sees this change as an ongoing cycle, where leaders, the cancer workforce, consumers, and the community work together to understand and tackle the causes of health inequities.
What does the Framework aim to achieve?
Understanding the problem: The Framework highlights the causes of health inequities, such as systemic discrimination, such as racism and sexism, and social determinants of health like income, education, and geographic location. These factors intersect with cultural and structural barriers, limiting access to timely, high-quality, and culturally safe cancer care for many disadvantaged populations.
Encouraging collaborative approaches and guiding action: The Framework aims to bring healthcare providers, researchers, communities, and patients together to co-design solutions that embed equity into every step of the cancer journey—from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and survivorship.
How was it developed?
The Cancer Equity Framework was developed by reviewing research and talking to people from health services, like leaders, policy makers, diversity experts, and clinicians. Members of the VCCC Alliance’s Equity Advisory Group and Consumer Network also gave important feedback to help shape the Framework.
What is the VCCC Alliance doing to support the Cancer Equity Framework?
The VCCC Alliance will support healthcare providers, researchers, and educators by:
Undertaking collaborative projects: The Alliance will engage in collaborative projects with others in the healthcare sector to create tools and resources that support equity-focused changes and improve care for priority groups.
Providing resources and events: The Alliance will provide resources, host events, and share best practices to help healthcare workers implement equity strategies, with the VCCC Alliance website as a central hub for guidance and tools to make it easier for everyone involved to take meaningful action.
Health Equity Data Strategy: The Alliance has developed a health equity data strategy for the current phase of the VCCC Alliance to underpin the areas of work and projects. Current activities and projects are mapped to the Victorian and Australian Cancer Plans, together with potential future undertakings.
