Many cancer patients around the world don’t have access to basic cancer treatments that have been in place in the United States and other developed nations since the 1970s. Often, systematic interventions — like these programs from GCI — are needed to make an impact.
GCI’s Patient Navigation Programs help patients overcome barriers to accessing timely and high-quality care. Healthcare systems in developing countries can be disjointed and chaotic, and there is often a huge delta between care available and accessible by the rich as compared to the poor.
Many patients have difficulty navigating complex healthcare systems.
Our programs are built with a customizable design to respond to local needs and situations in each new site that joins our network. This allows principal investigators to design a program that addresses their site's unique set of needs and challenges
GCI Patient Navigators are social workers, nurses, or patient advocates who work within hospitals to help patients navigate the health system with greater ease. Navigators can assist with:
As more sites join, our goal is that Patient Navigators become integrated within health systems worldwide as a cost-effective method to improve patient outcomes and quality of cancer care.
As our “on the ground” projects continue to impact individual doctors and patients, GCI simultaneously engages with health policy makers to affect widespread changes in cancer control. This is how truly long-lasting policies will be created to impact all patients throughout a country.
As an example, each Lancet Oncology Commission team has included health policy makers, and each release has included a global press meeting. After the release of the 2015 Latin American Commission update, a Health Ministers Meeting was held at the National Cancer Institute of Uruguay. Here, Latin American health ministers and oncologists gathered to discuss the findings of the commission and steps forward to help reduce the burden of cancer in the region.
