Posts by tag
health equity
From 10% to More Than 50% Survival: Tanzania Transforms Childhood Cancer Care, But Challenges Remain
In Tanzania in the early 2000s, healthcare for children with cancer was very limited. The majority of affected children never reached a treatment centre and 90% of those who did, ultimately died1. Today, childhood cancer care has been transformed with…
Making Cancer Visible in Lusophone Africa: The Pathologist Who Built a System
Gevorg Tamamyan: Take me back before medicine. Who was Cesaltina Lorenzoni as a child in Mozambique, and what was the moment you knew you wanted to be a doctor? Cesaltina Ferreira Lorenzoni: I was born and raised in the capital…
Loizos Loizou: The Lifesaver
How Loizos Loizou helped build pediatric oncology in Cyprus from almost nothing—and why decades later, he is turning that experience outward. For more than four decades, Prof. Loizos Loizou has stood on the front line of pediatric oncology. But when he…
The Missing Link in Cancer Care: Can AI-supported patient navigation close the gap in LMICs?
For many people with cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the greatest barrier is not that treatment is unavailable. It is that the path to treatment is fragmented, difficult to navigate, and easy to fall out of. A person…
Life After Cancer Has No Borders: Is Moving Abroad as an AYA a Good Idea?
What moving across eight countries taught me about survivorship, resilience, and the hidden barriers facing young adult cancer survivors. When Cancer Changes Everything Having cancer means that the life you know—your dreams, hobbies, relationships, and plans for the future—may suddenly…
Gloria Okwu: Turning Pain into Purpose
When Gloria Chiniere Okwu discovered a lump in her left breast in 2016, she could not have imagined that the diagnosis would eventually make her one of the most influential patient advocates in Nigeria. Today, Gloria is a cancer survivor,…
Finding Her Voice: How One Little Girl’s Loss Became a Lifelong Lesson in Listening
When Martha Raymond, the Founder and CEO of the GI Cancers Alliance and the Raymond Foundation, was seven years old, she lost her father to colon cancer. Years later, her mother's illness would change the course of her own life.…
Finding a Voice Beyond Cancer: How Karen Nakawala transformed a cervical cancer diagnosis into a movement for survivor leadership and better cancer care
Karen Nakawala spent decades telling other people's stories. As one of Zambia's well-known broadcasters, she knew how to command a microphone, connect with audiences and give voice to people whose experiences might otherwise go unheard. Whether presenting a live radio…
From Treating Children to Shaping Global Cancer Policy: Dr Tezer Kutluk on Leadership, Equity, and the Future of Oncology
Over four decades, Dr Tezer Kutluk, Scientific Director of Medicana Health group and Chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Medicana Hospitals, Turkey, has witnessed the transformation of cancer care—from the early days of pediatric oncology to the era…
No Woman Left Behind: Dr Miriam Mutebi and the Quest for Equitable Cancer Care in Africa
In a breast clinic in Africa, fear often arrives before diagnosis. Women arrive convinced they have cancer. Some have discovered a lump only days earlier; others have lived with symptoms for years. Many have never been taught breast awareness. Others…