Thomas Hofmarcher: We launched our latest report about breast cancer in the Middle East and Africa
Thomas Hofmarcher,
“Today we launched our latest report about breast cancer in the Middle East and Africa with a big bang! To mark the publication of the report, the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) organized an event with over 400 registered attendees, where I had the pleasure to provide an overview of the main findings and recommendations.
Afterwards, we had a great discussion with Dr. Sawsan AlMadhi, Reem Al-Ajlouni, Giuseppe Troisi, Ikram Eseghir led by Daniela Espindula Mothci.
For this report, IHE teamed up with 41 local experts and patient organizations across nine countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates).
I would like to express our gratitude to all experts for sharing their insights and contributions. I also want to thank IAPO (including Antonia Gama) for a great collaboration on this project! Thank you also to my co-authors Andrea Manzano, Katarina Gralén, Nils Wilking.
Short summary of the report:
- Many women dread the social fallout of breast cancer, like facing abandonment by spouses and jeopardizing their daughters’ marriage prospects. This is compounded by fears and the misconception that breast cancer is incurable as well as out-of-pocket expenses for medical services and challenges in accessing medical services. Many women are diagnosed late with the disease and face obstacles in the diagnostic process and in receiving adequate treatment.
- Despite all challenges, the report shows that things are improving for women with breast cancer. Policy initiatives such as the presidential Women’s Health initiative in Egypt have started to tackle the burden of breast cancer and implement upgrades to care services. Building on the three pillars of the Global Breast Cancer Initiative by the World Health Organization and best-practice examples, the report provides country-specific recommendations for future improvement.
Download the new IHE report here.
If you don’t want to read 200 pages, please check out the 3-page country cards here.”
Source: Thomas Hofmarcher/LinkedIn
