In 2012, there were 14 million new cases of cancer worldwide and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths, resulting in a higher death toll for cancer than for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. These high incidence and mortality rates show no signs of slowing. In fact, new cancer cases are expected to increase by 70% over the next two decades. Despite having less than 5% of global health care resources, more than two-thirds of the world’s cancer burden occurs in low- and middle-income countries like Haiti.

The primary challenges in providing cancer care in these countries include: a lack of skilled personnel; scarcity of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment; expensive medications; and the need for complex, multi-disciplinary infrastructure for oncology care. The Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais sees an incredible number of patients with cancer every day, but about 21% of them go untreated because of a lack of facilities capable of providing radiation therapy.

The National Oncology Center of Excellence will address this by providing affordable access to safe, effective and high-quality cancer care; educating the next generation of oncology clinicians (physicians, nurses, social workers, palliative care clinicians, laboratory technicians, etc), through continuous accompaniment and training; and providing continuous monitoring of patient outcomes through data collection and analysis.

Currently, HUM is the only site in the country that offers accurate and affordable oncologic diagnosis, staging and treatment. Over the course of the next five years, the oncology program also seeks to expand its team and partners in an effort to scale up the capacity, availability and quality of cancer care to benefit an ever-increasing number of patients.