Increasing access to cancer care beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Oncopadi is a friendly cancer app that connects people impacted by cancer 5X times faster to specialists and life-saving resources. Our platform improves the knowledge and capacity of community physicians enabling them to collaborate with cancer specialists. Ultimately, improving patient care and outcome regardless of geographical location and manpower shortage.

Dr. Omolola Salako is the Principal Investigator of the Acceleration of Remote Cancer Care in Rural Communities (Project ARC) in the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

In Nigeria, there are over 200 million people with only 100 Clinical Oncologists for over 125,000 cancer patients  The ratio of a clinical oncologist to new cancer patients is 1 to 1,250 compared to America where the ratio is 1 to 137 new cancer patients. It is worse in countries like Malawi, Burundi, the Central Africa Republic where there are no clinical oncologists. 

In Nigeria, about half of the 36 states have a resident oncologist the other half have no access to a clinical oncologist. Over 80% of clinical oncologists practice in specialist centers close to the cities this creates a vacuum in the care cancer patients located in rural areas can receive.

Cancer is a public health crisis because the majority of cancer patients do not receive the expert care of an oncology team which contributes to the 63% mortality rate. Secondly, the gross shortage of specialists makes it challenging for community physicians to co-manage cancer cases with specialists.

Project ARC benefits community physicians and specialists who manage cancer cases without the support of cancer specialists. These doctors are willing to collaborate with cancer specialists however due to the paucity of oncologists and the absence of a structured platform for a multi-disciplinary tumor board, their patients are managed sub-optimally. Community physicians continue to refer cancer patients across the country for valid reasons and sometimes for intangible reasons. An example is there is a high referral of terminally ill patients being referred to specialist centers whereas these patients will benefit from home-based care and palliative care. 

Community physicians, general practitioners are being engaged at an Association and state level to assess their needs and listen to the suggestions and experience in solving the care of cancer cases.

Secondly, team members of the Project ARC are community health physicians who are providing insight and a path to engage with health care workers in the rural setting.

We provide knowledge on the importance and accessibility of tumor boards for optimized cancer care.

We then provide online access to a second opinion of cancer care via a tumor board where each patient’s case is discussed by a group of professionals for more definite staging, treatment options and overall patient care.

As a community impact project, taking this solution to underprivileged areas in order to reduce the inequity, we would be creating hubs affiliated with the Community Clinics.

These hubs would be built on the workings of an Internet cafe which guides the patients on the process of using the technology.

It is first of all found within proximity as affiliated with the community clinics. Any cancer patient in need of the tumor board can walk into any of these hubs. There are attendants to put them through    signing up, entering the required details and communicating the proceeds of the board and the next line of action to them.

This way, patients get more definite staging treatment and overall care leading to better outcomes.

Over the next one year,We hope to scale our impact by increasing our hubs for better and more effective patient access to Atleast 5 states across the country.

Then, over the next 3 years, we hope to have scaled to about 15 states with focus on geo-political zones so each region of the country is covered with this essential service. 

After an encounter with each cancer case, a survey is given to the patient/caregiver/physician involved which is centered on patient care and satisfaction with mode of care.

We would also have a 6-month check-up plan to follow up patient care and recovery via a feedback form.

Backend data monitoring of the number of people and extent of use of the platform would also offer us some information on the extent of value offered.

Financial- We would be needing enough capital to build functioning hubs which would serve as the resource center in these communities to guide the patient in the maximal use of our platform

Technical- Setting up telecommunication connections in rural areas as well as trainings on operating the platform

Legal-

Cultural- Awareness on the importance and benefits of this platform to all groups, caring them along in the process and decisions in building so as to reduce the traditional monotony of the care by physicians especially in Africa

Policy-

Market-Getting the medical professional market aware and able to buy into it

Sebeccly Cancer Care

College of Medicine, University of Lagos

To Impact

sebeccely