Program Planning to Develop Infrastructure for Cancer Care in Liberia

Abstract

Liberia's health infrastructure was completely devastated after 14 years of back-to-back civil war. Postconflict rebuilding of the country's health workforce and infrastructure has become a priority. Initially, the focus was on the diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases that caused multigenerational family losses. With the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases, however, the country has turned its attention to addressing diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with the development of the noncommunicable disease unit under the Ministry of Health. Recovering from another setback caused by the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014, the country assembled a diverse group of stakeholders to form Liberia's first National Cancer Committee. To structure a program that would address the increasing burden of cervical and breast cancers, the major cause of mortality among reproductive-aged women in Liberia, input from the International Atomic Energy Agency was critical. This article describes the preplanning activities for developing infrastructure to support cancer care in Liberia that occurred between 2013 and 2020 and is still ongoing. This case study is intended to serve as a planning guide for countries with limited resources as they work toward the goal of eliminating cervical cancer and developing infrastructure to address their country's burden of all cancers.

FIG 1

A prewar Cobalt-60 machine at JFK Hospital illustrates the need for modern radiation therapy technology in Liberia's hospitals.