T. Peter Kingham, Surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, shared on LinkedIn:
“Cancer rates are rising sharply in low – and middle-income countries around the globe.
It’s vital that we have strong cancer research and training collaborations to help figure out why and how to improve outcomes locally and globally. This theme is highlighted by CNN.
Kudos to Prof. Isaac Alatise for leading our collaboration in Nigeria.
Ophira Ginsburg, Provost’s Visiting Professor of Global Cancer Equity at Imperial College London, shared T. Peter Kingham’s post, adding:
“What does it take to improve colorectal cancer survival in Nigeria? Start by diagnosing it earlier.
This excellent CNN story highlights the work of Dr. Olusegun (Isaac) Alatise, Dr. T. Peter Kingham – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the African Research Group for Oncology (ARGO) and an important lesson for cancer control everywhere.
In Nigeria, only about 1 in 5 people diagnosed with colorectal cancer survive five years, compared with roughly 2 in 3 in the US and Western Europe. The problem is not simply biology. Too many people are diagnosed when their cancer is already advanced.
The barriers are familiar across many low-resource settings: limited awareness of warning signs, stigma and cultural taboos, financial barriers to diagnostic testing, and health systems that are often not set up to identify symptomatic patients early.
ARGO’s response has been practical and locally grounded: train healthcare providers to recognize red-flag symptoms, raise community awareness, and create pathways for people with concerning symptoms – including rectal bleeding – to receive timely evaluation.
And it works. In an early pilot, almost 20% of those evaluated were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and 74% were identified at a potentially curable stage – more than twice the historical proportion.
What began as a collaboration in 2013 has grown into a research network spanning more than 25 sites across Nigeria, enrolling close to 10,000 patients and generating evidence to improve cancer care in the Nigerian context.
I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to work with this remarkable group as they continue to build the evidence for better cancer care in Nigeria.”
Other articles featuring T. Peter Kingham on OncoDaily.