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Feb 2016UWOCASO RECEIVES SPARC mBc AWARD
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Kampala, February 4th, 2016, Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women globally in terms of both incidence and mortality rates. Uganda has one of the highest age-standardized incidence rates for breast cancer in the Africa region with the highest incidence occurring among women 35-45, with an estimated ASR for incidence of 38.3 per 100,000 women which is one of the highest in the region. Breast cancer disease is associated with biomedical and psychological demands on the affected women and their families. Clinical and supportive care services are offered to patients to meet these needs, improve survival and quality of life. However, the existence of barriers to access and challenges affect the satisfaction of Metastatic breast cancer(MBC) patient’s need and imply that the available services cannot be expected to meet every clinical and psychological need of MBC patients and there is the need to identify the unmet needs, the challenges and gaps in meeting these needs.
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With financial support from Union for International Cancer Control(UICC) and Pfizer today 4th, February 2016, UWOCASO launches a SPARC Metastatic breast cancer challenge project “Advancing Metastatic Breast Cancer(MBC) understanding and supportive care in Uganda” The project will assess the clinical and psychological needs of mBc patients, challenges and gaps in meeting these needs. Identifying the unmetneeds and challenges will help in prioritization and targeting of interventions that can effectively meet mBc Patient needs, improve survival and quality of life of MBC patients in Uganda.
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UWOCASO is among the 20(twenty) organisations from 18 countries worldwide who received the Seeding Progress and resources for Cancer community(SPARC) challenge grant. UWOCASO will implement this project with Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Women Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network (WE CAN) and other partners.
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The project will work to assess the knowledge of clinical and psychological needs of MBC patients among providers, families, policy makers and Advocates, identify the existing challenges in meeting the needs and produce a gap analysis leading a resource stratified policy and practical recommendation and implementation roadmap. A quantitative and qualitative research plus document review approaches will be used.
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“Over a decade UWOCASO has struggled to give psychological and emotional support to breast cancer patients but without a baseline survey to identify their specific needs during the continuum of care. This grant together with the technical support and expertise from Uganda Cancer Institute, WE CAN and partners I am very hopeful UWOCASO’s future interventions will be evidence based and resource stratified”
\r\nGertrude Nakigudde\r\n\r\nExecutive Director