Winner
Roche - Africa Breast Cancer Ambition (ABCA)
Summary of work
Breast cancer is a growing crisis across Africa, where, as in many LMICs, late-stage diagnosis and systemic barriers drastically limit survival. In response, Roche’s Africa Breast Cancer Ambition (ABCA) is a transformative, systems-wide initiative designed to reshape the continent’s cancer care ecosystem by 2030. ABCA aims to improve 5-year survival from 5 in 10 to 8 in 10 women, reduce late-stage diagnoses from 70% to 40% and increase standard care access from 35% to 80%. Built on three pillars – standard-of-care infrastructure, sustainable financing, and digital innovation – ABCA moves beyond traditional models. It establishes pioneering public-private partnerships and integrates digital tools to amplify reach and build resilient, self-sustaining patient-empowered health systems that deliver improved outcomes for women and their families, while expanding diagnostic capacity and training the healthcare workforce. By reframing cancer care as a transformational economic growth opportunity rather than a cost burden, the initiative exemplifies a fresh go-to-market model where equitable care drives a sustainable business for the sponsoring company. ABCA is a scalable framework that strengthens local ownership and improves equity, serving as a blueprint for how targeted investment in women’s health can create a new standard for non-communicable disease care tailored to the specific needs of LMICs.
Judges’ comments
Roche’s “Africa Breast Cancer Ambition” entry was sharply written and was an absolutely outstanding initiative with impact for breast cancer. It had a tailored tactic to different country’s organisation, with tiers of different approaches designed for each level of infrastructure development in each country. It had a clearly defined context, demonstrating critical analysis and deep understanding of the situation, and developing a solution bespoke to this context. Very impressive indeed!
