Background: Breast cancer, the most common cancer among women worldwide, has a high mortality rate in low-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, most breast cancer patients are diagnosed with advanced disease. Some studies have quantified the time delay to diagnosis in sub-Saharan Africa, but very few have used qualitative methods to understand barriers leading to delay. This study analyses barriers throughout a breast cancer patient's pathway from symptom recognition to treatment in Mali.
Method: Three focus group discussions were conducted. The model of pathways to treatment was used to structure the results into 4 time intervals: appraisal, help-seeking, diagnosis, and treatment, with a focus on barriers during each interval.
Results: The main barriers during the appraisal interval were a low level of breast cancer knowledge among women, their families, and medical professionals, and during the help-seeking interval, mistrust in the community health care centers and economic hardship. Barriers during the diagnosis interval were low quality of health care services and lack of social support, and during the pretreatment interval high costs and lack of specialized services.
Conclusion: Multilevel interventions are needed to ensure access, availability, and affordability of a minimum standard of care for breast cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
Keywords: Breast cancer; Delays; Early detection; Patient pathway; Sub-Saharan Africa.