COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article
Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Health Policy and Management
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1560116
This article is part of the Research TopicEquity in Cancer Care: Mechanisms and Interventions for Enhanced AccessView all 5 articles
Guiding Principles for Health Equity in Oncology: Insights from Patient Organizations from the Middle East and Africa
Provisionally accepted
Dr Sawsan Al Madhi1*
Lauren Pretorius2
Emad Shash3Belma Kurdoglu4
Ahmad Rabea5
Atlal Abusanad6
Hani Nassar7Hamida Kettab8Benda Kithaka19Khaled Abdel Aziz10- 1AlignnEficient Health Consultancies CO LLC, Dubai, London, United Arab Emirates
- 2Campaigning for Cancer, South Africa, Randburg, South Africa
- 3Medical Oncology Department, Shefaa Al Orman Comprehensive Cancer Center, Luxor, Egypt
- 4Cancer Survivors Association, İstanbul, Türkiye
- 5Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Beni Suef, Egypt
- 6Najia community for survivors and patients with breast cancer, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 7Barbara Nassar, Beirut, Lebanon
- 8El Amel Association, Médéa, Algeria
- 9Kilele Health Association, Nairobi, Kenya
- 10Mersal Cancer Center, Cairo, Egypt
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This paper explores the role of patient advocacy in fostering patient-centered care (PCC), empowerment, and equitable access to healthcare in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Despite the vital contributions of patient advisory groups (PAGs) advocating for patients' rights and helping informed decision-making, implementation of PCC encounters challenges such as cultural variances, language barriers, and general lack of understanding of concepts. A consensus-based Health Equity Steering Committee for the MEA PAG convened a virtual meeting, to identify current practices and gaps in patient-centric approaches in oncology. This discussion highlighted the critical role of collaborations across various sectors to enhance knowledge sharing, access to treatment advancements, and manage societal stigma. A significant gap was observed in data handling by patient organizations, underscoring the need to strengthen data analytics capabilities to improve access programs. Recommendations focused on strengthening collaborations, enhancing data analytics, and integrating patient perspectives into healthcare planning.
Keywords: health equity, Patient-Centered Care, patient advocacy groups, Health Disparities, Middle East and Africa (MEA)
Received: 21 Mar 2025; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Al Madhi, Pretorius, Shash, Kurdoglu, Rabea, Abusanad, Nassar, Kettab, Kithaka1 and Aziz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dr Sawsan Al Madhi, dr.sawsan@alignneficient.com
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