South Asian Affiliation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) international locations — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — are proven in blue. Credit score: Created with mapchart.internet
A collection of 5 papers, revealed at this time in The Lancet Oncology by a College of Pittsburgh-led worldwide group, highlights crucial public well being challenges associated to most cancers management within the eight international locations that type the South Asian Affiliation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Rohingya refugee inhabitants in Bangladesh. The collection underscores limitations contributing to vital disparities in most cancers outcomes and identifies actionable options to deal with these challenges in some of the complete efforts to know this area’s most cancers burden.
The papers name for a complete, coordinated method to deal with the most cancers burden in SAARC international locations—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—that are dwelling to greater than 1.92 billion individuals. The authors urge policymakers and different stakeholders to implement culturally delicate approaches to enhance most cancers prevention, screening, early detection and therapy on this area.
Though most cancers incidence charges in SAARC international locations are decrease in comparison with the remainder of the world, mortality charges are larger. Most cancers incidence is on the rise, with lung, breast, oral and cervical cancers the most typical. That is largely as a result of late-stage diagnoses due to a extreme scarcity of early detection packages, restricted entry to therapies and insufficient well being care infrastructure.
These points are compounded in refugee settings, significantly among the many practically a million Rohingya inhabitants dwelling in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the place overcrowded camps, restricted assets, insufficient infrastructure and political limitations worsen the state of affairs.
“In the SAARC countries, we face a critical shortage of trained oncology professionals, limited health care infrastructure and significant health care disparities between urban and rural regions, all of which impact access to high quality cancer care,” stated corresponding writer Saiful Huq, Ph.D., professor within the Division of Radiation Oncology on the College of Pittsburgh College of Drugs and director of the Medical Physics Division at UPMC Hillman Most cancers Heart.
“There is a tremendous need for effective interventions to improve care across the entire cancer continuum—from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and palliative care for people living in these countries, which is almost one quarter of the world’s population.”
Within the collection of papers, Huq and his co-authors describe limitations particular to every SAARC nation and people which can be widespread throughout the area. These embrace a lack of knowledge about most cancers signs, threat components reminiscent of smoking and chewing betel nut, cultural stigmas, myths that most cancers is untreatable or contagious, lack of entry to well being care amenities in rural and distant areas, monetary difficulties confronted by many sufferers and their households and inadequate authorities funding in most cancers care.
A significant barrier to most cancers care is the scarcity of skilled most cancers care professionals in SAARC nations—together with oncologists, medical physicists, radiation technologists and oncology nurses —pushed by inadequate instructional and coaching packages. Moreover, the SAARC international locations face disparities in most cancers analysis funding and an absence of infrastructure to assist large-scale complete most cancers therapy efforts.
“SAARC nations face a myriad of challenges in providing accessible and equitable cancer care to their diverse populations,” stated Huq.
“As a first step to addressing these challenges, there is an urgent need to strengthen each country’s national cancer control program in order to develop strategies to upgrade health care infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas, and investing in the training, education and retention of skilled health care professionals.”
Different key suggestions embrace increasing most cancers registries to enhance information assortment that may inform coverage selections for most cancers management efforts and strengthen analysis capability; launching public well being campaigns to advertise prevention; selling early detection and consciousness of most cancers threat components; and fostering regional collaboration and partnerships to make sure higher entry to most cancers therapy.
The papers emphasize that regional networks may play a major position in advocacy and useful resource mobilization, significantly for international locations with restricted well being care budgets.
Among the many Rohingya refugee inhabitants, most cancers—significantly hepatocellular carcinoma, oral most cancers and cervical most cancers—is a rising concern. The papers name for culturally delicate and multi-pronged interventions to deal with these points, together with partnerships with native leaders and communities to boost most cancers consciousness, cut back stigmas, enhance well being literacy and strengthen capability for most cancers screening, therapy and palliative care.
To lift consciousness and drive coverage adjustments, Huq will launch this collection of papers on December 12 on the World Well being Catalyst Summit in Bangladesh to an viewers that may embrace Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, chief advisor of the Interim Authorities of Bangladesh; ambassadors from SAARC international locations; and different stakeholders.
“The dedication of Dr. Huq and the entire Global Health Catalyst to improving cancer care around the globe is truly amazing and I was honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with him in highlighting this critical issue,” stated co-author Heath Skinner, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Division of Radiation Oncology on the Pitt College of Drugs and chief medical officer of the Radiation Oncology Community of UPMC Hillman.
Different authors of the collection are listed in The Lancet Oncology papers on-line.
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