Cancer Care in Afghanistan

Abstract

Cancer care in Afghanistan is still an area that needs more research and attention. Despite many developments in the provision of the health services to Afghans in the past couple of years and despite that the coverage of primary health care has improved extensively from 9 % in 2002 to almost 60 % in 2012, the health system has failed to address non-communicable diseases such as cancer in Afghanistan. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) GLOBOCAN 2008, the cancer incidence in Afghanistan was around 14,355 per year in 2008, of which 11,539 died giving an incidence to mortality rate of over 80 %. Based on the same GLOBOCAN estimates, in 2012 there were around 16,300 new cases of cancer in the country. The top six cancers for both genders in Afghanistan are: Breast, stomach, oesophagus, lung, colorectum, and cervix uteri. According to a WHO/ICO report (Human Papillomavirus and Related Cancer: Afghanistan, http://apps.who.int/hpvcentre/statistics/dynamic/ico/country_pdf/AFG.pdf), Afghanistan has a population of 6.26 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 468 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 319 of them die from the disease. Based on a survey we conducted among the health workers in Afghanistan, we found out that the top five priorities regarding the cancer care are: (1) Scarcity of preventive measures to change the lifestyle of people in order to avoid cancer diseases at all. (2) Absence of data and information regarding cancer care is a top issue. (3) Absence of comprehensive diagnostic centers in Afghanistan. (4) Absence of treatment centers for cancer patients is another priority for Afghanistan. (5) Absence of expert health workers to provide prevention, early detection, treatment, and palliative care is also a key challenge and priority.