With cancer rates rising throughout sub-Saharan Africa – home to 1.1 billion people, or about 14 percent of the world’s population – researchers with the Botswana-Rutgers Partnership for Health are seeking solutions. Cancer is among the top three causes of premature death in the vast majority of nations in the region. Without significant interventions, predictions indicate the number of cancer deaths per year in this region would nearly double by 2030, to about 1 million.
In a study published in PLOS Global Public Health, researchers associated with the partnership address the need to improve access to oncology drugs in sub-Saharan Africa, where significant disparities exist and inhibit access to therapies that can improve the length and quality of life for cancer patients. In the paper, titled “Advancing oncology drug therapies for sub-Saharan Africa,” the study’s authors present a review of selected oncology drug therapies for common malignancies in sub-Saharan Africa, including breast cancer, cervical cancer, Kaposi sarcoma, lung cancer and prostate cancer. To read the full story.