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latin america
Por fin! A cancer prevention code for Latin America and the Caribbean
Last October, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched its Latin American and Caribbean Code Against Cancer, seeking to help reduce the region’s rising cancer incidence rates. “We must act now to reverse the projected trends,” said Elisabete Weiderpass, Director…
Geriatric oncology: how physicians in Latin America are personalising treatments and changing attitudes
When Gerardo Silveyra, a retired chemist from Toluca, Mexico, thinks about his recently deceased mother, Guadalupe Contreras, he regrets not having taken her to see a geriatrician sooner. Contreras, who died aged 93, had been “a very active woman,” and…
Unpaid women carers: recognising their contribution and their needs in Latin America
Researchers and public policies have historically overlooked the challenges of informal caregiving for cancer patients in Latin America. Now, public health experts are working to profile this neglected group, evaluate their quality of life and put an economic value on…
Angelita Habr-Gama: putting Brazil on the cancer research leaderboard
Brazilian surgeon Angelita Habr-Gama changed the way that lower rectal cancer is treated when she discovered that many patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation for early rectal cancers showed no residual disease and yet were still undergoing abdominal perineal resections. She…
North and South ‒ learning faster means learning together
When you look at the vast waiting area in Mumbai’s world leading Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, pictured above, what do you see? A crowded chaotic scene where sick patients and their relatives sit around for hours, waiting, hoping for someone…
The right to health in Latin America: feeling worthy of cancer treatment
Inequalities influence not only access to cancer care but also patients’ perceptions of their right to choose between treatment options and their expectations of receiving quality care. Researchers evaluating how countries in the Americas design their cancer control policies have…