An ethical imperative

“It is not ethically justifiable to scale up cancer control services while leaving health workers unprotected in the face of cytotoxic drugs,” said nurse specialists from the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer before COVID-19 hit.

One of these experts is global nursing project coordinator at St. Jude Hospital, Courtney Sullivan, who oversees initiatives with more than 20 health centers in LMICs: “There is a need for governments and hospital authorities to adequately invest in cancer control plans and to bring nurses into the conversation at health policy level.”

A broad range of holistic interventions is needed — from adequate staffing to quality, mandatory training, and resources for safe care such as closed-system drug transfer devices and PPE. But financial investment is needed to implement them.

“Overall, the biggest issue facing LMICs is the lack of resourcing for cancer care,”