978-92-832-0452-7
This publication summarizes the outcomes of a patterns-of-care study implemented by IARC in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Lalla Salma Foundation for Cancer Prevention and Treatment, to assess how far state-of-the-art cancer diagnostics and therapy have been disseminated into routine oncology practice in Morocco. The study was conducted retrospectively at the two largest publicly funded oncology centres in the country: Centre Mohammed VI pour le traitement des cancers in Casablanca and Institut National d’Oncologie Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah in Rabat. It involved more than 2000 patients with breast cancer and documented the changing patterns of care over a decade, from 2008 to 2017.
This publication documents temporal variations in breast cancer characteristics, the level of improvement in access to cancer diagnosis and treatment over time, the variations in practices related to breast cancer treatment, and the time trend of disease-free survival for these patients. The findings highlight the improvements in breast cancer care that occurred in Morocco as a result of pragmatic policies and systematic planning. Recommendations for strengthening breast cancer care in Morocco are also included. Similar patterns-of-care studies are extremely valuable for all countries to document the quality of cancer care and the impact of cancer control programmes.