The association of travel distance and other patient characteristics with breast cancer stage at diagnosis and treatment completion at a rural Rwandan cancer facility
At Rwanda's first public cancer facility, sector-level poverty and longer travel distances were associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnoses, but less clearly associated with treatment completion, perhaps partly due to travel stipends provided to the lowest-income individuals undergoing treatment. Our findings support further investigation into wider use of travel stipends to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment completion.
Authors
- Lawrence N. Shulman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8661-473X)
- Márcia C. Castro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4606-2795)
- Jean-Marie Vianney Dusengimana
- Catherine Kigonya
- Temidayo Fadelu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1323-4119)
- Daniel S. O’Neil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1779-1166)
- Lauren E. Schleimer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5135-6694)
- Lydia E. Pace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5378-0296)
- Aline Umwizerwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1620-3297)
- Stéphane Verguet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4128-0849)
- Niclas Rudolfson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2393-8494)
- John Butonzi
- Nancy L. Keating (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8274-4681)
- Abirami Natarajan
- Cyprien Shyirambere (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3203-3873)
- Emily MacDuffie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8479-8512)
- Tharcisse Mpunga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8298-7798)
- Kayleigh Bhangdia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4235-0685)
- Cam Nguyen
Institutions
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Lund University (SE)
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
- Yale Cancer Center (US)
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (RW)
- Harvard Global Health Institute (US)
- Ministry of Health (RW)
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Cancer
- Published
- 2025-01-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-13489-2
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Global Cancer Incidence and Screening
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.23
Funders
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation
- National Cancer Institute