RESUMO
Cancer incidence and mortality rates are increasing in West Africa. Cancer is a recent discipline in Mali and the means available to treat patients are insufficient. Mali has only one radiotherapy machine for the country and its malfunctions are regularly reported in the media. In order to understand the recurrent dissatisfactions linked to access to radiotherapy in Mali, we retraced the history of this machine and described its functioning. Based on semi-directive interviews with patients’ associations and health professionals involved in cancer care in Bamako, we describe how radiotherapy in Mali reveals global health issues through the intervention of numerous international cooperations. In addition, based on data collection from medical registers and institutional reports, we report that the average time to get a radiotherapy appointment is 3 to 6 months in Mali, but also that the radiotherapy machine has experienced 198 breakdowns between April 3, 2014 and September 24, 2021, which represents more than 54 weeks of cumulative downtime. Radiotherapy is a crucial element in the treatment of cancer and the lack of access to this treatment worsens the vital diagnosis of patients. While the Malian government is committed to universal health coverage reforms, strengthening cancer treatment facilities should also be considered a public health priority for Mali.
Assuntos
Países em Desenvolvimento , Neoplasias , Humanos , Mali/epidemiologia , Hospitais , Cooperação Internacional , Neoplasias/epidemiologia , Neoplasias/terapiaRESUMO
In this review, we report a case of a bone's metastatic breast cancer in Malian patient treated by chemotherapy in whom SRAS-COV-2's diagnosis was made 9days after the onset gastrointestinal symptoms. Patient quickly died before any COVID-19's treatment. According to the poor outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19, authors emphasize to an intensive attention to such patients in order to find the best therapeutic balance between the two pathologies during this pandemic.