Cancer initiatives in Sudan

Abstract

The broad ethnic and climatic diversity of Sudan makes it in many ways a microcosm of Africa. Sudan is experiencing a burgeoning cancer epidemic that carries many challenges that are characteristic of developing countries. These include a high incidence of advanced, difficult-to-treat disease at presentation, and a high cancer burden that is related to infectious diseases. To address this problem, Sudan has instituted a comprehensive national cancer control programme which is focused on prevention, early detection, improved treatment and palliative care. This programme focuses on three common cancers for which effective prevention, screening and treatments are available; breast, cervical and oral cancer. This article describes some preventive approaches through public awareness campaigns and education of medical professionals, and screening programmes that are being instituted in Sudan. Sudan provides an example of how the implementation of a comprehensive and carefully planned national cancer control programme in a very low-resource setting can improve the lives of cancer patients.

Cytomorphologic Patterns of Breast Lesions in Sudanese Patients: Lessons Learned from Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology

“…Breast cancer is the most common malignancy encountered among women worldwide and in Sudan (Hamad, 2006;Kumle, 2008;Slaoui et al, 1014). In this study, breast cancer represents about one third of all breast lesions investigated, and this finding is consistent with previous cytology reports (Ahmed et al, 2010).…”

Epidemiology, Pathology, Management and Open Challenges of Breast Cancer in Central Sudan: A Prototypical Limited Resource African Setting

“…This is may be partially due to the short-life expectancy and young population structure of African women. However, the full spectrum of this phenomenon could relect complex gene-environment interactions associated with both traditional and new lifestyles in Africa [6,17,19,[28][29][30][31][32].…”

“…These include lack of education, poverty, limited access to medical care and the fear of being perceived as a burden to caregivers. Other likely factors are fear of mastectomy and misconceptions about the nature or curability of the disease, which can lead women to seek alternative care instead of standard treatment [31]. About 60-75% of women in Central Sudan who develop breast cancer live in rural areas [39] and many of these women go untreated, mostly due to lack of access (inancial and geographical) to health care (Figure 2).…”

Building Sustainable Capacity for Disease Diagnosis in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Studies of Cooperation in Diagnostic Pathology

“…It is well known that the agents responsible for this cancer are human papilloma viruses (HPVs) (zur Hausen 2009) and that this cancer can be effectively cured when treated at early stages, as it mostly occurs in the developed world. However, in Africa the vast majority of the affected patients seen in hospitals have advanced to incurable disease at stages III or IV (Hamad 2006;Sitas et al 2008). Another problem linked to this cancer in Africa is that HIV/AIDS represents a risk factor for persistent infection with cancer-related HPVs (Palefsky 2009;Singh et al 2009).…”