Patient-centered care is an essential component of a functional health system and a key vehicle to achieve equitable access to quality healthcare, including universal healthcare (UHC), at all resource levels. Patient-centered healthcare systems respect the experience, values, needs, and preferences of people with cancer in the planning, coordination, and delivery of care. Read more

Precision medicine, sometimes known as "personalized medicine", is an approach to tailoring disease prevention and treatment that takes into account differences in people's genes, environments, and lifestyles. The goal of precision medicine is to target the right treatments to the right patients at the right time. Read more

In 2010, a Global Strategy to eliminate cervical cancer was launched by the World Health organization (WHO) in Kigali with the vision of a world where cervical cancer is eliminated as a public health problem. In response to the WHO call, Rwanda is developing its National Strategy for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer 2022-2030 that will guide the national response over the next years. Read more

Studies in high-income countries (HIC) have shown that providing appropriate supportive care to newly diagnosed cancer patients may help them and their caregivers manage emotional and psychological symptoms, and address social/cultural or logistical barriers, which in turn may improve treatment compliance and patients’ quality of life. However, in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where more than 70% of all cancer-related-deaths occur, there is a dearth of supportive care interventions and an overall lack of research studies evaluating their effectiveness. Read more

The integration of the early detection of cervical and breast cancers is a priority for many countries because breast cancer is steadily increasing worldwide; and breast cancer has not replaced, but rather added to the burden of other women’s cancers. In many places, we observe that high rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality coexist with increasing rates of breast cancer which results in a double burden of female cancers that further challenge economic and human development. Read more

The global burden of cancer falls heavily on low resource settings where there are critical gaps in the provision of supportive care for cancer patients. Initiatives to translate effective clinical treatments have been gathering pace. Yet few examples exist to guide the translation of interventions that address the high, unmet psychosocial needs among cancer patients. Read more

A team of breast surgeons in Zambia is implementing a one-stop clinic for HIV and Women’s Cancers that provides clinical breast examination, breast ultrasound, ultrasound-guided breast biopsy, cervical cancer screening using HPV-based self-testing, and HIV testing, all on the same day, to reduce delays in the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and neoplasms of the breast and cervix. By implementing breast health services in one single visit at the primary health care level, some of the diagnostic delays are minimized. Read more

The Uganda Cancer Institute, working in collaboration with the Breast health Global Initiative and a multidisciplinary group of experts, is developing Ugandan Breast Health Guidelines, appropriate to the country’s context, based on adapting evidence-based guidelines such as the NCCN’s harmonized guidelines as a starting point. Read more