IMPORTANCE Low breast cancer survival in sub-Saharan Africa's young population increases the likelihood that breast cancer deaths result in maternal orphans, ie, children (<18 years) losing their mother.OBJECTIVE To estimate the number of maternal orphans and their ages for every 100 breast cancer deaths in sub-Saharan African settings during 2014-2019 and to describe family concerns about the orphaned children.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Deaths occurring between September 1, 2014, and July 1, 2019, in the African Breast Cancer-Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) were examined in a cohort of women diagnosed with breast cancer during 2014-2017 at major cancer treatment hospitals in Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. The cohort was actively followed up for vital status via a trimonthly mobile phone call to each woman or her next of kin (typically a partner, husband, or child). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe number (Poisson counts) and ages of new orphans at the time of maternal death.RESULTS This cohort study found that a total of 795 deaths resulted in 964 new maternal orphans, with deaths occurring in women younger than 50 years accounting for 85% of the orphans. For every 100 deaths in women younger than 50 years, there were 210 new orphans (95% CI, overall, with country-specific estimates of 189 in Nigerian, 180 in Namibian, 222 in Ugandan, and 247 in Zambian Black women. For every 100 deaths of the women at any age, there were 121 maternal orphans, 17% of whom were younger than 5 years, 32% aged 5 to 9 years, and 51% aged 10 to 17 years at the time of maternal death. In follow-up interviews, families' concerns for children's education and childcare were reported to be exacerbated by the financial expenses associated with cancer treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThis study provides evidence that the number of maternal orphans due to breast cancer exceeds the number of breast cancer deaths among women in sub-Saharan Africa. The intergenerational consequences associated with cancer deaths in sub-Saharan Africa appear to be large and support the need for continued action to improve survival.

PURPOSE In Zambia, more than two-thirds of female patients with breast cancer present with late-stage disease, leading to high mortality rates. Most of the underlying causes are associated with delays in symptom recognition and diagnosis. By implementing breast care specialty services at the primary health care level, we hypothesized that some of the delays could be minimized. METHODS In March 2018, we established a breast care specialty clinic for women with symptomatic disease within 1 of the 5 district hospitals in Lusaka. The clinic offers breast self-awareness education, clinical breast examination, breast ultrasound, ultrasound-guided breast biopsy, surgery, referral for chemoradiation, follow-up care, and electronic medical records. RESULTS Between March 2018 and April 2019, of 1,790 symptomatic women who presented to the clinic, 176 (10%) had clinical and/or ultrasound indications for histologic evaluation. Biopsy specimens were obtained using ultrasound-guided core-needle procedures, all of which were performed on the same day as the initial visit. Of the 176 women who underwent biopsy, 112 (64%) had pathologic findings compatible with a primary breast cancer, and of these, 42 (37%) were early-stage (stage I/II) disease. Surgery for early-stage cancers was performed at the district hospital within 2 weeks of the time of definitive pathologic diagnosis. Patients with advanced disease were referred to the national cancer center for multimodality therapy, within a similar time frame. CONCLUSION Breast care specialty services for symptomatic women were established in a district-level hospital in a resource-constrained setting in Africa. As a result, the following time intervals were minimized: initial presentation and performance of clinical diagnostics; receipt of a definitive pathologic diagnosis and initiation of surgery; receipt of a definitive pathologic diagnosis and referral.

The adoption of the goal of universal health coverage and the growing burden of cancer in low-and middle-income countries makes it important to consider how to provide cancer care. Specific interventions can strengthen health systems while providing cancer care within a resource-stratified perspective (similar to the World Health Organization-tiered approach). Four specific topics are discussed: essential medicines/essential diagnostics lists; national cancer plans; provision of affordable essential public services (either at no cost to users or through national health insurance); and finally, how a nascent breast cancer program can build on existing programs. A case study of Zambia (a country with a core level of resources for cancer care, using the Breast Health Global Initiative typology) shows how a breast cancer program was built on a cervical cancer program, which in turn had evolved from the HIV/AIDS program. A case study of Brazil (which has enhanced resources for cancer care) describes how access to breast cancer care evolved as universal health coverage expanded. A case study of Uruguay shows how breast cancer outcomes improved as the country shifted from a largely private system to a single-payer national health insurance system in the transition to becoming a country with maximal resources for cancer care. The final case study describes an exciting initiative, the City Cancer Challenge, and how that may lead to improved cancer services.

Background: The use of the Alvarado scoring system as a tool for diagnosing acute appendicitis has been associated with a reduction of negative appendicectomies. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the Alvarado scoring system at predicting acute appendicitis in patients undergoing appendicectomy at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). Methods: A prospective study was done to evaluate the diagnostic value of the Alvarado score in patients undergoing appendicectomy at the UTH. Data was collected from the participants diagnosed with acute appendicitis and undergoing appendicectomy. The Alvarado scores for all the participants enrolled into the study were tabulated and correlated with the histopathology results. The sensitivity and the specificity of the Alvarado score was determined and used to construct the ROC curve using the SPSS version 20. The area under the curve was used to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Alvarado score in this study. Setting: The University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. Results: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Alvarado score the ROC curve test was run in SPSS version 20. The results showed that the area under the curve was C=0.842 with SE=0.047 and 95% CI from 0.750 to 0.934. The area under the curve represents the probability that the Alvarado score result for a randomly chosen positive case will exceed the result for a randomly chosen negative case. It shows from the ROC that the Alvarado score is a good indicator to anticipate acute appendicitis. In other words, these results have confirmed that the Alvarado scoring system has very high predictive ability to discriminate acute appendicitis from normal appendix subjects. Conclusion: The use of the Alvarado scoring system as a tool for diagnosing acute appendicitis at UTH will reduce the rate of negative appendicectomies. This will lead to a reduction in unnecessary operations, which are a burden on the health care system.