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Similar to global patterns, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in sub-Saharan Africa, with 94,000 new breast cancer cases and 48,000 breast cancer deaths occurring in 2012. This burden is projected to more than double between 2012 and 2030 due to population ageing and expansion, and westernization of lifestyles. Whilst breast cancer is, on average, a good-prognosis cancer in high-income countries, in sub-Saharan Africa its prognosis is considerably poorer.

In this talk, we will introduce the African Breast Cancer – Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) consortium. This is an m-Health technology-implemented prospective study of breast cancer survival, and its proximal and distal determinants, in multiple sub-Saharan African settings in Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia. The study aims to examine the whole journey of a breast cancer patient from the time she notices the first symptom(s) through the post-diagnostic treatment period to subsequent disease outcomes (e.g. cure, recurrence, death). The advantages and disadvantages of using m-Health technology in limited resource settings will be discussed, and a few preliminary results presented.

The talk will be of relevance to students and faculty interested in the epidemiology and control of non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those who are planning to conduct epidemiological studies in such settings.

Information about speaker(s): Isabel dos Santos Silva is an epidemiologist based at the Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM. Her recent work has focused on breast cancer epidemiology and control in both high-income and low-/middle-income settings.