Pakistan Oral Cancer Collaborative: analyzing barriers and obstacles to oral cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in Pakistan

Mariam A. Khokhar, Muhammad Omar Niaz, Adnan Aslam, Hassan Aqeel Khan, Asif Loya, Paul M. Speight, Syed Ali Khurram*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Oral cancer is a global health problem with increasing case numbers worldwide and no significant improvement in prognosis over the last few decades. It is one of the most common cancers and a leading cause of death in Pakistan, although the number reported is significantly underreported owing to the lack of a national cancer repository, and the true magnitude of this challenge is not known. Bilateral discussions and workshops funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund brought together a number of like-minded researchers and clinicians from the United Kingdom and Pakistan to analyze the status quo and plan the future course. This article reviews some of these discussions as well as barriers to oral cancer diagnosis in Pakistan and makes recommendations to investigate the magnitude and develop measures that may help tackle this devastating disease.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)312-319
Number of pages8
JournalOral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology
Volume132
Issue number3
Early online date12 May 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Professor Barry Gibson (Professor in Medical Sociology, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield) for his advice and support. Funded by the Global Health Challenges Fund, United Kingdom. The authors would like to acknowledge a QR-GCRF pump priming grant, which allowed bilateral visits between the United Kingdom and Pakistan, facilitating the discussions and work covered in this article.

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