Barriers to radiotherapy access at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria

Nigeria has the biggest gap between radiotherapy availability and need, with one machine per 19.4 million people, compared to one machine per 250,000 people in high-income countries. This study aims to identify its patient-level barriers to radiotherapy access. This was a cross sectional study consi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and translational radiation oncology 2017-08, Vol.5 (C), p.1-5
Main Authors: Anakwenze, Chidinma P., Ntekim, Atara, Trock, Bruce, Uwadiae, Iyobosa B., Page, Brandi R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Barriers
LMIC
Nigeria
Radiotherapy
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Summary:Nigeria has the biggest gap between radiotherapy availability and need, with one machine per 19.4 million people, compared to one machine per 250,000 people in high-income countries. This study aims to identify its patient-level barriers to radiotherapy access. This was a cross sectional study consisting of patient questionnaires (n=50) conducted in January 2016 to assess patient demographics, types of cancers seen, barriers to receiving radiotherapy, health beliefs and practices, and factors leading to treatment delay. Eighty percent of patients could not afford radiotherapy without financial assistance and only 6% of the patients had federal insurance, which did not cover radiotherapy services. Of the patients who had completed radiotherapy treatment, 91.3% had experienced treatment delay or often cancellation due to healthcare worker strike, power failure, machine breakdown, or prolonged wait time. The timeliness of a patient’s radiotherapy care correlated with their employment status and distance from radiotherapy center (p
ISSN:2405-6308
2405-6308
DOI:10.1016/j.ctro.2017.05.003