Abstract
African oncology professionals face significant obstacles to getting their research published due to geographical bias, funding issues and lack of publication skills. There is a major inequity in the availability of high‐quality, local data from African countries and this makes it difficult for the continent’s governments to develop robust cancer-control policies based on the latest evidence. Both African and international journal publishers have a duty to work towards increasing the volume of African published research and making it freely available to all.
Highlights
The global figure of new cancer cases is projected to rise to almost 22 million by 2030, with the burden in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) shifting from 59% to 65% of all cancer cases [1]—the greatest impact will clearly be in LMICs, many of which are ill-equipped to cope with this escalation in the number of people with cancer [2]
There is an increased prevalence of risk factors associated with economic transition, including smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and reproductive behaviours [6, 7]. Despite this growing cancer burden, cancer continues to be a relatively low public health priority in Africa, largely because of limited resources and other pressing public health problems, including communicable diseases such as AIDS/HIV infection, malaria, and tuberculosis [8]. 80% of global cancer deaths occur in LMICs but only 5% of total global spending on cancer care is expended in these regions
There is an urgent need to educate the general public and patients regarding cancer prevention and treatment, and provide policy makers with high-quality, peer-reviewed, regionally appropriate evidence. This goes hand in hand with increasing the amount of research which is published and read by African oncology professionals so that they are both aware of the latest developments in global cancer research and are able to bring attention to the region-specific issues surrounding cancer prevention and care in Africa
Summary
The global figure of new cancer cases is projected to rise to almost 22 million by 2030, with the burden in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) shifting from 59% to 65% of all cancer cases [1]—the greatest impact will clearly be in LMICs, many of which are ill-equipped to cope with this escalation in the number of people with cancer [2]. This goes hand in hand with increasing the amount of research which is published and read by African oncology professionals so that they are both aware of the latest developments in global cancer research and are able to bring attention to the region-specific issues surrounding cancer prevention and care in Africa.
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