Publications

THE REPORTS

Enhance Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Worldwide

This report emphasizes the crucial role of imaging in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. It sheds light on the alarming shortages in imaging equipment and workforce, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Using a microsimulation model encompassing 11 cancer types, it unveils the potential for global scale-up of imaging services alone to save more than 50 million life-years and yield large financial returns ($179.19 per dollar invested) over a 10-year period. The findings underscore that strategic investment in imaging equipment, workforce capacity, and technology is a powerful means to alleviate the toll of cancer in LMICs and improve health and economic outcomes across all regions.

Essential Steps Ahead for Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, urgent measures are essential to tackle the escalating cancer crisis. Projections indicate a staggering rise in deaths, potentially reaching 1 million annually by 2030 from 520,348 in 2020. This report proposes pivotal steps drawn from analysis and successful models that can be emulated, adapted, or improved across the region to reduce the growing cancer crisis. It notes the need to increase access to both treatments and diagnostics—including imaging—to improve cancer survival. The report also introduces a framework for strategically planning the enhancement of cancer research in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing investments in research that will drive policy and collaboration. Implementation of the recommended actions holds the key to curbing this crisis.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

MEDICAL IMAGING AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE

Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa

Increasing Access to Imaging for Addressing the Global Cancer Epidemic

Hedvig Hricak , Zachary J. Ward, Rifat Atun, May Abdel-Wahab, Ada Muellner, Andrew M. Scott (2021)

The impact of scaling up access to treatment and imaging modalities on global disparities in breast cancer survival: a simulation-based analysis

Zachary J Ward, Rifat Atun, Hedvig Hricak, Kwanele Asante, Geraldine McGinty, Elizabeth J Sutton, et al. (2021)

Cancer in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020: a review of current estimates of the national burden, data gaps, and future needs

Freddie Bray, D Maxwell Parkin (2022)

Treatment guideline concordance, initiation, and abandonment in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer from the African Breast Cancer–Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) cohort in sub-Saharan Africa: a prospective cohort study

Milena Foerster, Valerie McCormack, Prof Benjamin O Anderson, Pauline Boucheron, Annelle Zietsman, Herbert Cubasch, et al. (2022)

Global costs, health benefits, and economic benefits of scaling up treatment and imaging modalities for survival of 11 cancers: a simulation-based analysis

Zachary J Ward, Prof Andrew M Scott, Hedvig Hricak, Rifat Atun (2021)

Estimating the impact of treatment and imaging modalities on 5-year net survival of 11 cancers in 200 countries: a simulation-based analysis

Zachary J Ward, Andrew M Scott, Hedvig Hricak, May Abdel-Wahab, Diana Paez, Miriam Mikhail Lette, H Alberto Vargas, T Peter Kingham, Rifat Atun (2020)

The role and contribution of treatment and imaging modalities in global cervical cancer management: survival estimates from a simulation-based analysis

Zachary J. Ward, Surbhi Grover, Andrew M. Scott, Sungmin Woo, Dina H. Salama, Elizabeth C. Jones, Tarek El-Diasty, Bradley R. Pieters, Edward L. Trimble, H. Alberto Vargas, Hedvig Hricak, Rifat Atun (2020)