Health-care related supportive-care factors may be responsible for poorer survival of cancer patients in developing countries

- Adverse events (AEs) of anti-cancer therapy deteriorate quality of life (QoL).
- Inappropriate management of AEs may lead to death of cancer patients on therapy.
- Health care in developing countries may be sub-optimal in delivery supportive care.
- Identifying shortcomings of health-care services is the first step toward resolving them.
- Solution to these problems has to be evolved by dialog with various stakeholders of oncology care.

Patients on anti-cancer therapy develop acute, sub-acute and late adverse events (AE). Development of AE may deteriorate the quality of life (QoL) and may be fatal if unattended. Absence of protocol, evidence base and adequate research on the management of supportive care, in general, compounded by not-so-well organized health-care system of developing countries may be the reason for poor cancer survival, vis-a-vis the stage, site and histology of cancer, in these region of the world. Individual contribution of each of these health-care related factors may be insignificant and indiscernible. However, combination of these adverse health-services factors may cumulate to poorer survival in cancer patients of developing countries. In this report, we have attempted to elucidate different factors of supportive care possibly responsible for poor oncologic and QoL outcome. By elaborating various aspects of deficit supportive-care delivery in developing countries, our report aims to grab due attention of policy makers for instituting necessary corrective measures so as to translates it into oncologic survival.