Challenges and Opportunities in Breast Cancer Care in Low-Resourced Countries, Jordan as An Example

Simple Summary As the most common cancer diagnosed worldwide, breast cancer treatment represents a great opportunity to set up processes to improve the integration of all elements of cancer control programs. The journey starts with prevention, screening, and early detection, and includes survivorship programs that manage late after-treatment effects and, when needed, hospice and palliative care. Active treatment, using cost-effective up-to-date anti-cancer therapy delivered through a multidisciplinary approach, is the main pillar of this process. In this review, we address issues related to breast cancer in Jordan, some of which may also exist in neighboring and other low-resourced countries, such as presentation at a younger age and with advanced-stage disease. The rising number of newly diagnosed patients and the financial impact of the many recently introduced immunotherapies and targeted and endocrine therapies pose a great burden on most health care systems.Abstract Jordan is a relatively small country with a rapidly growing population and a challenged economy. Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among women worldwide and also in Jordan. Though the age-standardized rate (ASR) of breast cancer incidence is still lower than that in Western societies, the number of newly diagnosed cases continues to increase, involving younger women, and new cases are usually detected at more advanced stages. Improvements in breast cancer care across the health care continuum, including early detection, prevention, treatment, and survivorship and palliative care, have become very visible, but may not match the magnitude of the problem. More organized, goal-oriented work is urgently needed to downstage the disease and improve awareness of, access to, and participation in early detection programs. The cost of recently introduced anti-cancer therapies poses a great challenge, but the impact of these therapies on treatment outcomes, including overall survival, is becoming very noticeable. Though the concept of a multidisciplinary approach to breast cancer treatment is often used at most health care facilities, its implementation in real practice varies significantly. The availability of breast reconstruction procedures, survivorship programs, germline genetic testing, counselling, and palliative care is improving, but these are not widely practiced. In this manuscript, we review the status of breast cancer in Jordan and highlight some of the existing challenges and opportunities.