Skip to main content

Delay in Seeking Referral Treatment among Breast Cancer Patients at Ocean Road Cancer Institute and Muhimbili National Hospitals Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Description

In Tanzania, cancer is recognized as a serious health care problem (ORCI, 2008) and is one of the major causes of mortality, morbidity, and disease burden. Tanzania with a population of 42.5 million people, it was estimated that 21,000 new cancer cases occur each year (Ferlay et al., 2008), out of this only 10% of these new cases manage to get proper care and treatment (MEWATA, 2008). Breast cancer is an issue of public health concern in Tanzania (MEWATA, 2008). It ranks third after cancer of the cervix and kaposis sarcoma and it accounts 9.3% of all cancers seen at Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI). The Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) and Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) are the health facilities which receive cancer patients from all over Tanzania. From the Newly diagnosed cancer, Less than 10% of patients are able to go for treatment at ORCI, and of this population 80% arrive when the cancer is too far advanced to treat effectively (Walker, 2007). Hence this paper focuses on factors which contributing to the delay of breast cancer patients to seek treatment at the tertiary hospitals after being diagnosed.

Objective

To explore factors associated with delay in seeking referral for cancer treatment among breast cancer patients

Submitted by knowledge_repo… on