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The exponential rise in cancer costs in South Africa (SA) was illustrated in a recent Sunday Times article entitled 'The cost of cancer can be a debt sentence'. Our Minister of Health talks of a 'war' against the high costs of cancer drugs, and epidemiologists project a sharply rising incidence. Eminent international medical journals, such as The Lancet, underline the fact that cancer cost is a growing international problem that confronts even the richest countries. If richer countries in the world are battling to cover the costs of cancer, what is the prognosis for SA?

Original publication

DOI

10.7196/samj.2016.v106i10.11375

Type

Journal

South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde

Publication Date

09/2016

Volume

106

Pages

949 - 950

Addresses

Faculty of Commerce, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa; Medical Research Council/University of KwaZulu-Natal Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Centre, Durban, South Africa. Kurt.Sartorius@wits.ac.za.

Keywords

Humans, Neoplasms, Incidence, Cost of Illness, Health Care Rationing, Disease Management, Patient Care Team, South Africa