Joshua Omale, Pediatric Oncology Advocate, Innovation Council Member at Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2), shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Cancer systems are designed. So a redesign is possible!
Cancer systems do not fail randomly. They function exactly as they are designed to function.
- If prevention is weak, it is because incentives reward treatment volume.
- If referrals stall, it is because coordination is not structurally required.
- If diagnoses are late, it is because early suspicion is not built into frontline care.
Health systems are not passive environments. They are policy choices made visible. Budgets signal priorities. Training pathways shape recognition. Financing rules influence when families enter care. Data flows determine who acts, and who waits.
In many low-resource settings, cancer systems were never intentionally designed around early detection, coordinated referral, and equitable access. So the outcomes we see are not accidental. They are structural.
But design is not destiny. If systems are constructed, they can be reconstructed.
The real question for cancer control is no longer: ‘How do we treat better?’
It is: ‘What are we rewarding, and what are we neglecting?’
Cancer outcomes will improve when system architecture changes, not only when new drugs arrive.”
Other articles featuring Joshua Omale on OncoDaily.