ReviewCureus2026
Cancer Screening in Afghanistan: A Narrative Review of Feasibility, Barriers, and Evidence-Based Strategies for Low-Resource Settings.
Review in Cureus, 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.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Afghanistan experiences a substantial cancer burden within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region, with poor outcomes largely linked to delayed diagnosis and limited access to diagnostic and treatment services. The national cancer profile is dominated by malignancies commonly observed in low-resource settings, including cancers of the breast, gastrointestinal tract, and cervix. This narrative review examines the limitations of commonly used cancer screening modalities, the systemic and sociocultural barriers to their implementation in Afghanistan, and feasible strategies for early cancer detection in resource-constrained environments. Conventional screening approaches, such as endoscopic procedures, imaging-based screening, and cytology-based tests, face significant challenges related to infrastructure, workforce capacity, affordability, and accessibility, limiting their widespread use. Screening for less prevalent cancers is discussed in the context of uncertain feasibility and limited applicability in low-resource health systems. Afghanistan's healthcare system continues to face structural constraints, including fragmented oncology services, limited diagnostic capacity, and the absence of coordinated screening frameworks. These challenges are further compounded by sociocultural factors such as low health awareness, stigma, gender-related barriers, and financial hardship, all of which reduce screening uptake and delay care-seeking. In addition, weaknesses in health information systems hinder effective cancer surveillance and planning. This narrative (non-systematic) review emphasizes pragmatic, low-cost approaches to cancer screening and early diagnosis that can be integrated into existing primary healthcare services, highlighting frontline healthcare worker training and community engagement as realistic pathways to improving early detection under severe resource limitations.
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.