TY - JOUR
T1 - Planning cancer control in Latin America and the Caribbean
AU - Goss, Paul E.
AU - Lee, Brittany L.
AU - Badovinac-Crnjevic, Tanja
AU - Strasser-Weippl, Kathrin
AU - Chavarri-Guerra, Yanin
AU - Louis, Jessica St
AU - Villarreal-Garza, Cynthia
AU - Unger-Saldaña, Karla
AU - Ferreyra, Mayra
AU - Debiasi, Márcio
AU - Liedke, Pedro E.R.
AU - Touya, Diego
AU - Werutsky, Gustavo
AU - Higgins, Michaela
AU - Fan, Lei
AU - Vasconcelos, Claudia
AU - Cazap, Eduardo
AU - Vallejos, Carlos
AU - Mohar, Alejandro
AU - Knaul, Felicia
AU - Arreola, Hector
AU - Batura, Rekha
AU - Luciani, Silvana
AU - Sullivan, Richard
AU - Finkelstein, Dianne
AU - Simon, Sergio
AU - Barrios, Carlos
AU - Kightlinger, Rebecca
AU - Gelrud, Andres
AU - Bychkovsky, Vladimir
AU - Lopes, Gilberto
AU - Stefani, Stephen
AU - Blaya, Marcelo
AU - Souza, Fabiano Hahn
AU - Santos, Franklin Santana
AU - Kaemmerer, Alberto
AU - de Azambuja, Evandro
AU - Zorilla, Andres Felipe Cardona
AU - Murillo, Raul
AU - Jeronimo, Jose
AU - Tsu, Vivien
AU - Carvalho, Andre
AU - Gil, Carlos Ferreira
AU - Sternberg, Cinthya
AU - Dueñas-Gonzalez, Alfonso
AU - Sgroi, Dennis
AU - Cuello, Mauricio
AU - Fresco, Rodrigo
AU - Reis, Rui Manuel
AU - Masera, Guiseppe
AU - Gabús, Raúl
AU - Ribeiro, Raul
AU - Knust, Renata
AU - Ismael, Gustavo
AU - Rosenblatt, Eduardo
AU - Roth, Berta
AU - Villa, Luisa
AU - Solares, Argelia Lara
AU - Leon, Marta Ximena
AU - Torres-Vigil, Isabel
AU - Covarrubias-Gomez, Alfredo
AU - Hernández, Andrés
AU - Bertolino, Mariela
AU - Schwartsmann, Gilberto
AU - Santillana, Sergio
AU - Esteva, Francisco
AU - Fein, Luis
AU - Mano, Max
AU - Gomez, Henry
AU - Hurlbert, Marc
AU - Durstine, Alessandra
AU - Azenha, Gustavo
N1 - Funding Information:
Any resident of Argentina has the right to medical care for catastrophic diseases, including cancer. Funding sources for cancer differ according to the health sector responsible for the patient. If a patient does not have private or social security insurance, the patient's province must cover costs. The national government also has resources to provide coverage for patients, including non-residents, located anywhere in the country. High-cost medications and treatments are covered by a special fund as part of the Special Programs Administration, supported by the Superintendent of Health Services (Korenfeld L, National Cancer Institute, personal communication).
Funding Information:
Many Latin American governments are aware of the importance of radiotherapy and are investing accordingly. Over the past decade, the region has expanded services and acquired better equipment. However, there remains a severe shortage of radiation specialists, particularly radiation physicists and radiation therapists. The regional professional society for radiation oncology, the Latin American Association for Radiation Oncology (Asociación Latino Americana de Terapia Radiante Oncológica; ALATRO), recently established a regional school with the goal of improving radiation therapy training. This educational effort is supported by national and international organisations, such as the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (Sociedad Española de Oncología Radioterápica; SEOR), the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and the IAEA.
Funding Information:
Argentina's health system is financed by three sectors: public health, social security, and private insurance. A fourth subsystem, known as the National Institute of Social Security and Retirement Fund (INSSJP-PAMI), specifically covers retirees, similar to Medicare in the USA. Although this matrix structure is intended to provide universal coverage, its multiple independent systems lack vertical and horizontal integration, resulting in inadequate coverage for many. In the social security and private systems, health care can be contracted from different sources, some of which own their health-care facilities. In the public sector, financing is provided by the provincial or municipal government. The national government has an oversight role, including specific programmes to reduce provincial differences. Financing of the public system comes from national and provincial taxes, and coverage is open to all; however, it is mainly used by people who lack any other type of health coverage. It is mandatory for employers to provide health insurance for all workers. Additionally, social insurance is mandatory for all government employees and is usually provided by workers unions. This insurance is funded by employers' contributions and can include copayments. The system includes the National and Provincial Social Security and the INSSJP-PAMI. By contrast, the private system consists of direct contributions and prepayments to medical companies. Both the social security system and private insurance are regulated by the Superintendent of Health Services, reporting to the Ministry of Health, and by the Obligatory Medical Program (PMO).
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are overtaking infectious disease as the leading health-care threat in middle-income and low-income countries. Latin American and Caribbean countries are struggling to respond to increasing morbidity and death from advanced disease. Health ministries and health-care systems in these countries face many challenges caring for patients with advanced cancer: inadequate funding; inequitable distribution of resources and services; inadequate numbers, training, and distribution of health-care personnel and equipment; lack of adequate care for many populations based on socioeconomic, geographic, ethnic, and other factors; and current systems geared toward the needs of wealthy, urban minorities at a cost to the entire population. This burgeoning cancer problem threatens to cause widespread suffering and economic peril to the countries of Latin America. Prompt and deliberate actions must be taken to avoid this scenario. Increasing efforts towards prevention of cancer and avoidance of advanced, stage IV disease will reduce suffering and mortality and will make overall cancer care more affordable. We hope the findings of our Commission and our recommendations will inspire Latin American stakeholders to redouble their efforts to address this increasing cancer burden and to prevent it from worsening and threatening their societies.
AB - Non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are overtaking infectious disease as the leading health-care threat in middle-income and low-income countries. Latin American and Caribbean countries are struggling to respond to increasing morbidity and death from advanced disease. Health ministries and health-care systems in these countries face many challenges caring for patients with advanced cancer: inadequate funding; inequitable distribution of resources and services; inadequate numbers, training, and distribution of health-care personnel and equipment; lack of adequate care for many populations based on socioeconomic, geographic, ethnic, and other factors; and current systems geared toward the needs of wealthy, urban minorities at a cost to the entire population. This burgeoning cancer problem threatens to cause widespread suffering and economic peril to the countries of Latin America. Prompt and deliberate actions must be taken to avoid this scenario. Increasing efforts towards prevention of cancer and avoidance of advanced, stage IV disease will reduce suffering and mortality and will make overall cancer care more affordable. We hope the findings of our Commission and our recommendations will inspire Latin American stakeholders to redouble their efforts to address this increasing cancer burden and to prevent it from worsening and threatening their societies.
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U2 - 10.1016/S1470-2045(13)70048-2
DO - 10.1016/S1470-2045(13)70048-2
M3 - Review article
C2 - 23628188
AN - SCOPUS:84876852012
SN - 1470-2045
VL - 14
SP - 391
EP - 436
JO - The lancet oncology
JF - The lancet oncology
IS - 5
ER -