Cancer Pain Management in French-Speaking African Countries: Assessment of the Current Situation and Research Into Factors Limiting Treatment and Access to Analgesic Drugs

Hadjiat, Yacine; Perrot, Serge

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.846042

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Imperative in these evaluations will be social context, cultural factors that are barriers to or opportunities for digital health interventions, and the policy and legislative environment. Future research should be undertaken within sociocultural frameworks of adoption such as those posited by Crawford and Serhal [16] or similar protocols such as those used by Hadjiat and Perrot [18].…”

Section: Digital Health Innovations Can Make a Difference To Health I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare inequity and digital health–A bridge for the divide, or further erosion of the chasm?

Hadjiat

2023

PLOS Digit Health

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Healthcare technology innovations may have received a proliferation of attention during the Covid-19 pandemic, but this belies the fact that these developments have been a significant driver of change in the health sector for some time [1]. An interpretation of recent experiences has clearly indicated that it is imperative for the healthcare sector, policy makers and community workers to consider the benefits and costs of digital developments-they may promise a solution for inclusive health services but instead entrench inequality further. Equally, the opposite can be true where digital health developments promote access and equity-an opportunity the healthcare sector can ill afford to miss.Digital health technologies include using digital hardware and software in health care settings. The WHO in 2005 acknowledged the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in health and published a strategic plan 2020-2025 to ensure eHealth developed and was implemented in a way that promotes equity, affordability and access [2]. In this sense, innovation in eHealth includes new ideas, novel approaches and adaptations of existing ideas into the healthcare setting. Digital developments are the processes and continual improvements practically seen in ICTs. Therefore, eHealth has benefited from the development and continuous improvement in digital tools such as mobile phones and the internet, as well as the innovative application of technology to health [1,3]. Equally, this innovation has also been driven by rising healthcare costs, competing interests amongst stakeholders, a lack of cooperation across medical entities and global inequalities [4][5][6].Importantly, the WHO strategic plan singles out equity as an imperative of eHealth. This important distinction highlights the need to take a social justice approach to digital health developments-when in design and planning stages, equity should be a foremost consideration (specifically not equality). Having said this, the current levels of inequality and inequality make it difficult to measure the impact of digital health, narrow down its significance, and create scalable solutions in the environments that need them the most. With the arrival of Covid-19, a substantial change in perspective regarding the adoption and implementation of digital health solutions has arisen. The pandemic emerged at a time when technology could augment or replace traditional healthcare interventions, and even created the opportunity for healthcare advances in the form of big data analysis and data sharing tools. These developments have created a broader platform for digital health interventions such as telehealth, online support, and supply chain system improvements to reach people unable to access health services, provided opportunities for advances in medical research, and created efficiencies in supply chain [7]. The question remains, however, have these advances in digital health effectively contributed to PLOS DIGITAL HEALTH

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Section: Digital Health Innovations Can Make a Difference To Health I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare inequity and digital health–A bridge for the divide, or further erosion of the chasm?

Hadjiat

2023

PLOS Digit Health

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“…Digital health includes mobile health, digital technologies in health or applied to health situations, digital devices, telehealth, specialized software, artificial intelligence, machine learning ( 11 ). And while efficacy of these interventions is starting to be documented, the introduction of digital health interventions into a framework that does not consider a biopsychosocial approach is a concern ( 12 ).…”

Section: Pain Is Multi-faceted and Must Be Considered Holisticallymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is imperative to evaluate these innovations against a framework for efficacy, scalability, efficiency, and impact. This is especially the case as numerous innovations have been criticised as being unscalable, ad hoc pilot projects, and without an evidence base or systematic implementation plan to support them ( 12 ).…”

Section: Effective Pain Assessment and Diagnosis Is A Challenge; Inno...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also ambiguity about when regulatory approval should be sought, and what basic principles must be followed in the development of big data and algorithms to ensure ethical model development. It is important to ensure that the socio-cultural factors associated with digital interventions in pain are considered, and one should question whether the applications are suitable for integration into insurance and healthcare schemes ( 12 ). While the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase and acceptance of many digital health solutions, these advances should be strengthened by implementing a rigorous framework of evaluation for innovations, to ensure impact, accessibility, acceptance and ethical standards.…”

Section: Digital Health Applications Must Follow Best Practice Princi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digital health in pain assessment, diagnosis, and management: Overview and perspectives

Hadjiat

Arendt‐Nielsen

2023

Front. Pain Res.

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Managing pain is essential for social, psychological, physical, and economic reasons. It is also a human right with a growing incidence of untreated and under-treated pain globally. Barriers to diagnosing, assessing, treating, and managing pain are complicated, subjective, and driven by patient, healthcare provider, payer, policy, and regulatory challenges. In addition, conventional treatment methods pose their own challenges including the subjectivity of assessment, lack of therapeutic innovation over the last decade, opioid use disorder and financial access to treatment. Digital health innovations hold much promise in providing complementary solutions to traditional medical interventions and may reduce cost and speed up recovery or adaptation. There is a growing evidence base for the use of digital health in pain assessment, diagnosis, and management. The challenge is not only to develop new technologies and solutions, but to do this within a framework that supports health equity, scalability, socio-cultural consideration, and evidence-based science. The extensive limits to physical personal interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic 2020/21 has proven the possible role of digital health in the field of pain medicine. This paper provides an overview of the use of digital health in pain management and argues for the use of a systemic framework in evaluating the efficacy of digital health solutions.

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“…Pain is ‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated or resembling that associated with actual or potential tissue damage’ [ 3 ]. It is multidimensional and complex, involving physical, psychological, spiritual and emotional factors [ 4 ]. Cancer-related pain is described as pain associated with the cancer itself, treatment modality or adverse effects of the treatment [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to optimal management of cancer pain in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

Magboh,

Saba,

Krause

et al. 2023

ecancer Journal

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Background Although cancer is a significant issue in sub-Saharan Africa, and cancer pain is prevalent, there is insufficient data and research on the barriers to cancer pain management. Even in countries where evidence exists, few studies explore the links between these barriers, which makes it difficult to implement system-wide approaches to address them. Methods The search strategy was developed and conducted on databases including MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science to identify peer-reviewed studies. Then, these retrieved studies were screened systematically to select papers that had met pre-specified criteria. The barriers were categorised into patient-, health professional- and health system-level domains. Then, the quality of the included papers was assessed using the mixed methods appraisal tool. Finally, a narrative synthesis was utilised to summarise the findings. Results Fourteen relevant articles from 19 sub-Saharan African countries were included in the scoping review. All the studies highlighted barriers to optimal cancer pain management. Healthcare system-related domains had the most frequently reported barriers. Approximately half of the included studies met 100% of the methodological quality criteria in the critical appraisal. Conclusion Improving pain management for cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa requires further high-level research evidence on regulatory policies and interventional strategies, especially at the health system level, as most barriers to cancer pain treatment essentially stem from the healthcare system.

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Cancer Pain Management in French-Speaking African Countries: Assessment of the Current Situation and Research Into Factors Limiting Treatment and Access to Analgesic Drugs

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Healthcare inequity and digital health–A bridge for the divide, or further erosion of the chasm?

Healthcare inequity and digital health–A bridge for the divide, or further erosion of the chasm?

Digital health in pain assessment, diagnosis, and management: Overview and perspectives

Barriers to optimal management of cancer pain in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

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