The management of head and neck cancer in Africa. What lessons can be learned from African literature?

SA Journal of Oncology

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The management of head and neck cancer in Africa. What lessons can be learned from African literature?
 
Creator Coutts, Kim A. Seedat, Jaishika Vlok, Ellen
 
Subject speech pathology; rehabilitation head and neck cancer; rehabilitation; management; speech language pathology; interdisciplinary; dysphagia
Description There is a significant dearth of contextually relevant information related to the management of head and neck cancer (HNC) in Africa. The aim of this letter was to put forward the findings from our larger systematic review to describe the current management of HNC patients in Africa and to identify gaps and present potential solutions. Sixty-six articles were included and analysed with descriptive statistics, a narrative synthesis, and thematic analysis. Surgical resection remains the primary medical intervention in Africa, whilst chemotherapy and radiation services remain limited. There was no mention of multidisciplinary team input in the management of these patients, including no description of any rehabilitative treatments. There are significant resource shortages ranging from access to medical equipment to both skilled medical and rehabilitative staff. The findings from this study imply that the management of HNC in Africa requires a possible transdisciplinary approach to improve access to services. Health professionals also need to explore a community-based level approach to care to improve access. There needs to be more context-specific research to improve contextually relevant teaching and practice in HNC.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor n/a
Date 2022-02-01
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Scoping review
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajo.v6i0.204
 
Source South African Journal of Oncology; Vol 6 (2022); 3 pages 2523-0646 2518-8704
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajo.org.za/index.php/sajo/article/view/204/565 https://sajo.org.za/index.php/sajo/article/view/204/566 https://sajo.org.za/index.php/sajo/article/view/204/567 https://sajo.org.za/index.php/sajo/article/view/204/568
 
Coverage South Africa; Africa Current Scoping review
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Kim A. Coutts, Jaishika Seedat, Ellen Vlok https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT