Challenges in supportive cancer care: perspectives from the Asia Pacific and Middle East

Abstract

The Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer defines supportive care in cancer as “the prevention and management of the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. This includes management of physical and psychological symptoms and side effects across the continuum of the cancer experience from diagnosis through treatment to post-treatment care. Supportive care aims to improve the quality of rehabilitation, secondary cancer prevention, survivorship, and end-of-life care” [1]. Interventions in supportive care includes pharmacological therapy, rehabilitation, and psychosocial support and supportive communication in a multidisciplinary setting. While this approach has gained much headway in developed Western countries, countries in the Asia Pacific and Middle East face a wide variety of challenges that hinder optimal supportive care delivery. To complicate matters, the individual supportive care needs vary from one country to the next due to differences in culture and available resources [2]. This limits the direct application of Western approaches to the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions [2].