Abstract 38: Setting up a Cancer Clinic in a Low-and-Middle-Income Country (LMIC) in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of Taita Taveta County in Kenya.

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Quality Cancer treatment is expensive and not accessible to all in LMIC settings in sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya. Despite having a cancer diagnosis, patients and their families not living in major towns and cities, have to travel far to seek treatment incurring cost in transport, upkeep during treatment and out of pocket expenditure to access care. Methods: International Cancer Institute in Eldoret-Kenya, partnered with Taita Taveta County to implement a cancer and other non-communicable disease (NCD) project in August 2020. Taita Taveta County established a technical working group (TWG) in September 2020 to oversee the project activities and identified space and staff to set up a new cancer clinic. ICI provided technical support in project planning, budgeting, capacity/needs assessment, training and mentorship of healthcare providers; and running joint cancer clinics. Results: Periodic review meetings between ICI and Taita Taveta County TWG identified lack of: qualified staff to provide cancer care; cancer screening supplies; and drug stock-outs. In September 2020, ICI and its strategic partners supported Taita Taveta County to launch a Cancer Clinic to provide basic Cancer care. ICI offered trainings and continuous medical education on cancer for 91 healthcare providers both online (26) and on-site (65); ICI provided cervical, breast and prostate cancer screening supplies; established a revolving fund pharmacy as a stop gap measure to drug stock-outs; and held joint cancer clinics twice a month where mentorship and skills training for county staff paired with ICI staff across various disciplines was achieved resulting in the first patient receiving chemotherapy in November 2020; histopathology support was provided for 151 samples. Conclusion: The process of setting up a cancer clinic in a low resource setting requires a systematic needs assessment approach; identifying a core team early that outlines output measures of interest; and having strategic partnership guiding step-by-step developments. Citation Format: Gloria Kitur, Emmah Achieng, Rebecca Mwakichako, Felix Kimotho, Chite Asirwa. Setting up a Cancer Clinic in a Low-and-Middle-Income Country (LMIC) in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case of Taita Taveta County in Kenya. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 9th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Global Cancer Research and Control: Looking Back and Charting a Path Forward; 2021 Mar 10-11. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2021;30(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 38.