Cancer patients in poorer nations have much lower survival rates after diagnosis compared with those in richer nations, says a global study Lancet Oncology.  It attributes the stark gap to weak, or non-existent in some instances, treatment and diagnostic services, and emphasises the need for urgent investments in oncology health services, especially in sub-Saharan African countries.

The study examined the five year age standardised relative survival experience of 341 658 cancer patients diagnosed with one of 10 cancers during 1990-2001 in 25 regions in 12 low and middle income nations from Africa, Asia, and Central America. It found that survival was highest in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Turkey “where health services are well developed with advanced diagnostic treatment centres per head GNI [gross national income] values.”

via Study finds that cancer survival rates are low in many poor nations — Zarocostas 339: b5636 — BMJ.