Cancer and the world's poor: What's a gynecologic cancer specialist to do?

Abstract

Women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a drastically increased burden of cervical cancer and the same burden of other gynecologic cancers as do women in high-income countries, yet there are few resources or specialists to meet their needs. 85% of deaths from cervical cancer occur in LMICs. As the population of these regions age, and as death from infectious diseases decrease, this burden will increase further without strong intervention. There are few cancer specialists in LMICs and training in gynecologic cancer care is rare. Gynecologic cancer specialists are uniquely positioned to meet this challenge as advocates, educators and experts. On behalf of the SGO International Committee, we call on our colleagues to meet this historic challenge.

Keywords: Capacity building; Cervical cancer; Education; Equity; Global Health; Surgical training.