HCC is the fourth most common cancer in Africa. The predominant risk factors of HCC in Africa are hepatitis B being the predominant risk factor in Sub-Saharan Africa and hepatitis C in Egypt. The accessibility and cost of prevention strategies, including vaccination against hepatitis B and the fight against aflatoxin, remain an impediment for the disease. The limited overall survival of 3 months is mainly driven by late-stage presentation and limited access to most of the novel therapeutic approaches. A steering committee that represents all Africa and consists of experts in all pertinent disciplines including epidemiology, hepatology, gastroenterology, surgery, interventional radiology, medical oncology was built two years ago. A virtual meeting will be held on October 19 and 20. All members of the healthcare field and with an interest in HCC are welcome to attend and contribute to the open discussions. At registration, a polling questionnaire will be be provided to all attendees to help build the real-world data experience and perspectives. The hands-on experience of members of the steering committee members and attendees will help develop guidelines designed specifically for Africa. The effort will help develop joint Africa continent HCC guidelines for surveillance and prevention, and for treatment. These guidelines will also be studied in the geo-economic GDP per capita three regions of Africa: North and south, east and west, and central Africa. In preparation for the event, the steering committee will continue to meet on regular basis, and plan to have a dry run of the meeting to ensure its success. It is a great honor to present the results of the effort at the AORTIC meeting in Dakkar, Senegal. Further plans for broadcasting, publishing the guidelines and a plan for annual updates will follow.

This segment of the Hepato-pancreato-biliary Cancer session follows four talks on the 1) AORTIC Special Interest Group and the Africa HepatoPancreatoBiliary Cancer Consortium, 2) epidemiology of these cancers in Africa, and the World Health Organization viral hepatitis elimination plan and targets, 3) development of cancer treatment guidelines for Africa, and 4) state of the art in liver cancer research, particularly in prevention and early detection. This segment seeks to engage the audience further to share on-going research, discuss critical research gaps and future directions to address hepato-pancreato-biliary cancer in Africa.

The four main research topics we would like your input on are etiology, early detection, surveillance, and treatment of hepato-pancreato-biliary cancers. We are interested in several domains: (i) feasible approaches to ascertain the true burden of these fatal cancers in Africa in terms of incidence, mortality, and morbidity; (ii) current efforts to reduce exposure to known etiologic factors in the general- and high-risk populations, such as viral hepatitis, alcohol consumption, exposure to aflatoxin, among others; (iii) feasible surveillance strategies, including innovative and affordable tests and simplified algorithms for early detection; and (iv) treatment options for hepato-pancreato-biliary cancers.