Low & middle-income countries bear 80% of the world's cancer burden but only 5% of global spending on cancer is expended in them. Patients face enormous barriers to accessing care. In Africa & Haiti, Global Oncology (GO) is helping reduce barriers with education materials for populations with low literacy levels. Improving patient & caregiver knowledge can reduce suffering & improve treatment adherence & outcomes. Help GO put these booklets in the hands of underserved cancer patients worldwide.
Imagine receiving chemotherapy but not being informed of the side effects. What would you think when the mouth sores, nausea, muscle weakness and hair loss began? Perhaps that it was the wrong medicine, or worse. This was the situation at our original partner site in Malawi, where many patients were not completing treatment, the clinicians had limited time to counsel patients about the treatment process and locally relevant education materials were not available.
GO developed patient education booklets that use simple text and culturally appropriate imagery, including body language and facial expression, to visually represent complex symptoms. GO makes the booklets available where patients and families aren't adequately counseled on the basic facts of a cancer diagnosis and treatment. This work can save lives by improving patient knowledge of the cancer treatment process, reducing stigma and supporting efforts to provide psychosocial care.
The goal of this work is to close the gaps in cancer patient education by addressing disparities in patient literacy and promoting treatment completion by helping patients understand their disease. GO's booklets exist in seven languages with more translations underway. While current materials focus on the side-effects of chemo- and radiotherapies, GO aims to adapt them for pediatrics, breast and other specific cancers, and palliative care. Contact danna@globalonc.org to join this effort.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
