Arunah Chandran: Capacity assessment tool by ACCI for cancer care in India
Authors: Meritxell Mallafré-Larrosa, Arunah Chandran, Kunal Oswal, Ishu Kataria, Arnie Purushotham, Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, Rajaraman Swaminathan, Rohit Rebello, Rita Isaac, Moni Kuriakose, Richard Sullivan, Partha Basu, ACCI Consortium.
“Tool for health system capacity assessment for cancer care.
The Access Cancer Care India team developed a capacity assessment tool (ACCI) tailored for assessing health system for cancer services in India, and it’s designed to be applicable for other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) too.
Recognizing the numerous challenges in accessing quality cancer care, we’ve taken a pragmatic approach with the tool. Here’s what sets it apart:
- Contextualization: The tool is customized to fit within the Indian healthcare system, making it easier to identify and tackle specific barriers.
- Collaborative Effort: We engaged national experts and key local stakeholders in its pre-testing and revision, leading to significant improvements and streamlined adoption.
- Mixed Methods Approach: By integrating both quantitative and qualitative methods, we aim to provide a comprehensive situational analysis, guiding the effective piloting of our planned interventions.
- Implementation Science Lens: This tool helps bridge the gap between research and real-world practice, ensuring research can truly make a difference.
By addressing these critical issues, we hope the findings can play a pivotal role in reducing health disparities and improving cancer control for vulnerable populations. Let’s work together to close the evidence-practice gap and bring about meaningful change!
This tool has been used in the pre-intervention phase in two states (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and we hope to utilise in Rajasthan next.
Access Cancer Care India (ACCI) is a Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) funded implementation research project that is a collaborative effort between King’s College London, IARC – International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization, RTI International, Karkinos Healthcare, GBH American Hospital, Cancer Institute (WIA).”