ArticleBMC cancer2026
Barriers to accessing cancer care services in Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa: cancer survivors' perspectives.
Article in BMC cancer, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- An Integrated Decentralised-Centralised Oncology Care Model to Improve Cancer Screening, Access, and Continuity of Care in Rural Eastern Cape, South Africa: Implementation Study at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe World Health Organization’s 2022 estimates reported 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths, reaffirming cancer as the second leading global cause of mortality. Equitable care requires access to prevention, early detection, treatment, and follow-up for all populations. In rural South Africa, access is shaped by structural, economic, systemic, and sociocultural factors. This study explored cancer survivors’ experiences in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga to understand the barriers they face in obtaining care.
methodsA qualitative study was conducted between November 2021 and January 2022 using semi-structured interviews with adult cancer survivors receiving care at tertiary referral hospitals in the rural Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. Purposive and convenience sampling were used to recruit participants aged 18 years and older who could provide informed consent and describe their care experiences. Interviews explored diagnostic pathways, comorbidities, and barriers to accessing cancer services. Data were analysed inductively using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, with emergent themes subsequently interpreted using the World Health Organization health system building blocks framework.
resultsThe study included 33 cancer patients aged 30–74 years attending oncology clinics. Most participants were women (n = 25) and unemployed (n = 23). Breast cancer was the most common diagnosis (n = 14), followed by cervical cancer (n = 9), with smaller numbers of prostate, thyroid, stomach and Kaposi’s sarcoma cases. Breast and cervical cancers accounted for over two-thirds of all diagnoses. Four themes that emerged were poor infrastructure, financial barriers, environmental and contextual challenges, and health system obstacles, illustrating the multidimensional barriers to rural cancer care.
conclusionThis study identifies structural, economic, and social barriers limiting cancer survivors’ access to care in rural South Africa, causing diagnostic delays, treatment interruptions, and increased vulnerability. Participant narratives reveal critical gaps in the health system and highlight the need for culturally grounded, community-responsive reforms. Enhancing access requires decentralised oncology services, strengthened referral pathways, transport and education support, and integrated psychosocial care. Coordinated efforts among policymakers, providers, and communities, informed by comparative rural–urban research, are essential to achieve equitable cancer care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.