Cancer research in Africa will have a pivotal role in cancer control planning in this continent. However, environments (such as those in academic or clinical settings) with limited research infrastructure (laboratories, biorespositories, databases) coupled with inadequate funding and other resources have hampered African scientists from carrying out rigorous research. In September 2012, over 100 scientists with expertise in cancer research in Africa met in London to discuss the challenges in performing high-quality research, and to formulate the next steps for building sustainable, comprehensive and multi-disciplinary programmes relevant to Africa. This was the first meeting among five major organizations: the African Organisation for Research and Training in Africa (AORTIC), the Africa Oxford Cancer Foundation (AfrOx), and the National Cancer Institutes (NCI) of Brazil, France and the USA. This article summarizes the discussions and recommendations of this meeting, including the next steps required to create sustainable and impactful research programmes that will enable evidenced-based cancer control approaches and planning at the local, regional and national levels.

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We distributed the Religion and Spirituality in Cancer Care Study via the Middle East Cancer Consortium to physicians and nurses caring for advanced cancer patients. Survey items included how often spiritual care should be provided, how often respondents themselves provide it, and perceived barriers to spiritual care provision.ResultWe had 770 respondents (40% physicians, 60% nurses) from 14 Middle Eastern countries. The results showed that 82% of respondents think staff should provide spiritual care at least occasionally, but 44% provide spiritual care less often than they think they should. In multivariable analysis of respondents who valued spiritual care yet did not themselves provide it to their most recent patients, predictors included low personal sense of being spiritual (p < 0.001) and not having received training (p = 0.02; only 22% received training). How "developed" a country is negatively predicted spiritual care provision (p < 0.001). Self-perceived barriers were quite similar across cultures.Significance of resultsDespite relatively high levels of spiritual care provision, we see a gap between desirability and actual provision. Seeing oneself as not spiritual or only slightly spiritual is a key factor demonstrably associated with not providing spiritual care. Efforts to increase spiritual care provision should target those in favor of spiritual care provision, promoting training that helps participants consider their own spirituality and the role that it plays in their personal and professional lives.

The majority of Middle Eastern patients with cancer are treated in outlying regions; the community is pivotal and must be incorporated into future plans for developing palliative care services. Promoting palliative care education and certification for physicians and nurses is crucial; home-based and hospice services must be sustained.

Introduction:Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Egyptian women. We report the unique assessment of hope and social support outcomes of women with breast cancer after mastectomy in Egyptian community.Patients and methods:Between July 2009 and June 2010, three hundred and one women with newly diagnosed breast cancer joined this study. Socio-demographic data including patient’s age, level of education, occupation, social status, and residence were collected by means of structured interviews based on special questionnaires. These questionnaires were designed to measure hope and social support.Results:Age ranged from 21 to 88 years (median = 45.8 years and SD ± 13.3). A low degree of hope was reported in 103 patients (34.2%), a moderate degree in 109 patients (36.2%), and a high degree in 89 patients (29.6%). A low degree of social support was reported in 119 patients (39.5%), a moderate degree in 101 patients (33.6%), and a high degree in 81 patients (26.9%).Conclusions:Social support is related to many psychological factors, which can be quantitatively analyzed and it can predict hope. However, there were no significant differences between the socio-demographic variables (age, educational levels, residence and martial status) and social support, hope, and their sub-components among Egyptian women with breast cancer.