Improving access to cancer care for children in Tanzania: Designing a health-systems intervention

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

ABSTRACT The burden of cancer disproportionally affects children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which accounts for over 80% of global childhood cancer cases and deaths. Children in LMICs are four times more likely to die of cancer than children in high-income countries. One of the main reasons impacting poor outcomes for vast number of children with cancer in LMICs is the lack of strong health systems, which impacts timely access to care along the entire care continuum. In order to improve cancer outcomes for children in LMICs, interventions are needed to improve comprehensive care using a health system strengthening approach . My long-term goal is to improve outcomes for children with cancer in LMICs through support of locally-relevant programs to strengthen health systems. I am a global health epidemiologist with a passion for children’s health care in LMICs. Although my formal training and research experiences have been formative for the analysis of disease patterns and health systems, I will use this award to develop skills to improve health systems and to translate epidemiologic data into clinical practice. With my extensive epidemiologic experience, I have previously measured and identified delays in care for children with surgical needs in LMICs due to geographic, financial, and health system barriers. However, I lack the expertise to translate those findings into practice through real-world, evidence-based, sustainable solutions. Training in this gap between science and practice requires an integrated approach to health system strengthening. To achieve my career goals, I need additional training in health services research and implementation science. The skills acquired during the K01 training grant will equip me to become an independent investigator in low-income settings with my career goal of becoming researcher to improve global health systems for children. My mentorship team’s expertise in global care for children, health services research, implementation science, and intervention development will support my proposed training and research objectives. In addition, the proposed aims will gather preliminary data needed for the next step of a R01 proposal aimed at testing interventions to improve cancer care for children in Tanzania.