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Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey

Breast cancer in Ghana is a growing public health problem with increasing incidence and poor outcomes. Lack of access to comprehensive treatment in Ghana may be a contributing factor to its high mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the availability of treatments nationwide and system...

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Autores principales: Schoenhals, Sarah, Mali, Meghan E., Sutherland, Edward K., Sorenson, Justin, Dedey, Florence, Nellermoe, Jonathan, Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Angel, Tounkara, Mamadou D., Price, Raymond R., Brownson, Kirstyn E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10503733/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37713441
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291454
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author Schoenhals, Sarah
Mali, Meghan E.
Sutherland, Edward K.
Sorenson, Justin
Dedey, Florence
Nellermoe, Jonathan
Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Angel
Tounkara, Mamadou D.
Price, Raymond R.
Brownson, Kirstyn E.
author_facet Schoenhals, Sarah
Mali, Meghan E.
Sutherland, Edward K.
Sorenson, Justin
Dedey, Florence
Nellermoe, Jonathan
Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Angel
Tounkara, Mamadou D.
Price, Raymond R.
Brownson, Kirstyn E.
author_sort Schoenhals, Sarah
collection PubMed
description Breast cancer in Ghana is a growing public health problem with increasing incidence and poor outcomes. Lack of access to comprehensive treatment in Ghana may be a contributing factor to its high mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the availability of treatments nationwide and systematically identify high yield areas for targeted expansion. We conducted a cross-sectional, nationwide hospital-based survey from November 2020-October 2021. Surveys were conducted in person with trained research assistants and described hospital availability of all breast cancer treatments and personnel. All individual treatment services were reported, and hospitals were further stratified into levels of multi-modal treatment modeled after the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Framework treatment recommendations for low-resource settings. Level 3 included Tamoxifen and surgery (mastectomy with axillary lymph node sampling); Level 2 included Level 3 plus radiation, aromatase inhibitors, lumpectomy, and sentinel lymph node biopsy; Level 1 included Level 2 plus Her2 therapy and breast reconstruction. Hospitals were identified that could expand to these service levels based on existing services, location and personnel. The distance of the total population from treatment services before and after hypothetical expansion was determined with a geospatial analysis. Of the 328 participating hospitals (95% response rate), 9 hospitals had Level 3 care, 0 had Level 2, and 2 had Level 1. Twelve hospitals could expand to Level 3, 1 could expand to Level 2, and 1 could expand to Level 1. With expansion, the population percentage within 75km of Level 1, 2 and 3 care would increase from 42% to 50%, 0 to 6% and 44% to 67%, respectively. Multi-modal breast cancer treatment is available in Ghana, but it is not accessible to most of the population. Leveraging the knowledge of current resources and population proximity provides an opportunity to identify high-yield areas for targeted expansion.
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spelling pubmed-105037332023-09-16 Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey Schoenhals, Sarah Mali, Meghan E. Sutherland, Edward K. Sorenson, Justin Dedey, Florence Nellermoe, Jonathan Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Angel Tounkara, Mamadou D. Price, Raymond R. Brownson, Kirstyn E. PLoS One Research Article Breast cancer in Ghana is a growing public health problem with increasing incidence and poor outcomes. Lack of access to comprehensive treatment in Ghana may be a contributing factor to its high mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the availability of treatments nationwide and systematically identify high yield areas for targeted expansion. We conducted a cross-sectional, nationwide hospital-based survey from November 2020-October 2021. Surveys were conducted in person with trained research assistants and described hospital availability of all breast cancer treatments and personnel. All individual treatment services were reported, and hospitals were further stratified into levels of multi-modal treatment modeled after the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Framework treatment recommendations for low-resource settings. Level 3 included Tamoxifen and surgery (mastectomy with axillary lymph node sampling); Level 2 included Level 3 plus radiation, aromatase inhibitors, lumpectomy, and sentinel lymph node biopsy; Level 1 included Level 2 plus Her2 therapy and breast reconstruction. Hospitals were identified that could expand to these service levels based on existing services, location and personnel. The distance of the total population from treatment services before and after hypothetical expansion was determined with a geospatial analysis. Of the 328 participating hospitals (95% response rate), 9 hospitals had Level 3 care, 0 had Level 2, and 2 had Level 1. Twelve hospitals could expand to Level 3, 1 could expand to Level 2, and 1 could expand to Level 1. With expansion, the population percentage within 75km of Level 1, 2 and 3 care would increase from 42% to 50%, 0 to 6% and 44% to 67%, respectively. Multi-modal breast cancer treatment is available in Ghana, but it is not accessible to most of the population. Leveraging the knowledge of current resources and population proximity provides an opportunity to identify high-yield areas for targeted expansion. Public Library of Science 2023-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC10503733/ /pubmed/37713441 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291454 Text en © 2023 Schoenhals et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Schoenhals, Sarah
Mali, Meghan E.
Sutherland, Edward K.
Sorenson, Justin
Dedey, Florence
Nellermoe, Jonathan
Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Angel
Tounkara, Mamadou D.
Price, Raymond R.
Brownson, Kirstyn E.
Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title_full Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title_fullStr Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title_full_unstemmed Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title_short Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey
title_sort geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in ghana: a nationwide survey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10503733/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37713441
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291454
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