The prevalence of cancer among war refugees in Syria and Jordan and the cost of treating the condition have become a concern among humanitarian aid workers as funds are not enough to provide all of the cancer-stricken refugees with the needed treatment.
Due to limited funding, only select refugees battling with cancer can be provided treatment. In Jordan, for instance, only 48 percent of the 511 cancer treatment applications received between 2010 and 2012 were approved. The United Nations have to maximize its available funds as donations from international organizations and donors were not enough so patients with good prognosis tend to get prioritized over those with fewer chances of recovery. Those with good prognosis but require expensive treatment, on the other hand, may also be denied of help.
"The UNHCR, through exceptional care committees (ECCs), has developed standard operating procedures to address expensive medical treatment for refugees in host countries, to decide on eligibility and amount of payment," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) medical chief Paul Spiegel and colleagues wrote in a study that examined the funding applications for treatments that were received by the ECC from refugees in Syria and Jordan between 2010 and 2012.
In the study published in the June issue of The Lancet Oncology, Spiegel and colleagues found that of the 1989 applications ECC received, nearly a quarter or 511, were for cancer with the most prevalent forms being breast cancer and colorectal cancer. More than half of the applications, however, were denied and this is primarily due to poor prognosis which accounted for 43 percent of the cases in 2012 and 31 percent in 2011 and because the cost of treatment is too high, which accounted for 25 percent of the cases in 2011.
"We face a terrible decision over who to help," study researcher and UNHCR doctor Adam Musa Khalifa said. "Some patients have a good prognosis, but the cost of treating them is too high. These decisions affect all of us psychologically."
Spiegel and colleagues also noted that while the average cost for cancer treatment that was requested from the ECC was $11,540 in 2011 and $5,151 in 2012, the highest amounts that were approved were $4,626 in 2011 and $3,501 in 2012.
The researchers have made recommendations for improved cancer prevention and treatment among refugees and these included the development of cancer registries, improvements in preventive and primary care and through innovative financing schemes.
