Development of a Breast Cancer Treatment Program in Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Experiences From the Field

The nonprofit Project Medishare launched a breast cancer treatment program in Port-au-Prince in July 2013 to address the demand for breast cancer care in Haiti. We outline the development of the program, highlight specific challenges, and discuss key considerations for others working in global oncology.

We reflected on our experiences in the key areas of developing partnerships, building laboratory capacity, conducting medical training, using treatment algorithms, and ensuring access to safe, low-cost chemotherapy drugs. We also critically reviewed our costs and quality measures.

The program has treated a total of 139 patients with breast cancer with strong adherence to treatment regimens in 85% of patients. In 273 chemotherapy administrations, no serious exposure or adverse safety events were reported by staff. The mortality rate for 94 patients for whom we have complete data was 24% with a median survival time of 53 months. Our outcome data were likely influenced by stage at presentation, with more than half of patients presenting more than 12 months after first noticing a tumor. Future efforts will therefore focus on continuing to improve the level of care, while working with local partners to spread awareness, increase screening, and get more women into care earlier in the course of their disease.

Our experiences may inform others working to implement protocol-based cancer treatment programs in resource-poor settings and can provide valuable lessons learned for future global oncology efforts.