The Institute of Cancer and Crisis (ICC) shared on LinkedIn:
“A silent crisis in global health: Cancer care for refugees and asylum seekers.
A new scoping review published in Journal of Clinical Oncology Global Oncology presents a stark and necessary wake-up call.
Led by Dr. Vikneswary Batumalai and an international team of researchers, this comprehensive analysis of 111 studies (2000-2024) examines the state of cancer control for refugee and asylum seeker populations worldwide. The findings confirm what many on the front lines have long known: this is a severely neglected area of healthcare.
The scale of the challenge is immense.
With over 120 million people forcibly displaced globally, the review highlights persistent and multifaceted inequities across the entire cancer care continuum.
Key takeaways from the review:
- Delayed and Suboptimal Care: The research consistently shows low cancer awareness, reduced screening uptake, delayed diagnoses (often at later stages), and frequent treatment interruptions for refugees compared to host populations.
- Multilevel Barriers: The obstacles are not just individual. They are financial (cost of care), social (language, stigma, lack of transport), and profoundly systemic-including inconsistent policies, lack of culturally appropriate services, and the outright exclusion of refugees from national cancer data sets and strategic plans. The authors rightly point out that this exclusion is a form of discrimination.
- What Works: The review doesn’t just highlight problems; it identifies effective, actionable solutions.
- A Critical Research Gap: A striking 56% of the reviewed studies were conducted in high-income countries, yet 76% of displaced people live in low- and middle-income countries. We urgently need more research from the regions hosting the largest refugee populations.
The Path Forward:
The authors call for an integrated strategy where the needs of refugees and asylum seekers are embedded into national and international health policies. Every National Cancer Control Plan should explicitly address “Cancer Control in Crisis Situations.” This is about upholding the human right to health and building resilient, equitable health systems for all.
This review is an essential resource for policymakers, healthcare providers, and researchers committed to leaving no one behind in the fight against cancer.”
Title: Cancer Control in Refugee and Asylum Seeker Populations: A Scoping Review
Authors: Vikneswary Batumalai, Mengqi Zhou, Bronwen Blake, David J. Carter, Ashfaq Chauhan, Mijanur Rahman, Tezer Kutluk, Richard Sullivan, Maryam Zahid and Mei Ling Yap
Other articles about The Institute of Cancer and Crisis on OncoDaily.