War and oncology: cancer care in five Iraqi provinces impacted by the ISIL conflict

Frontiers in Oncology

Oncology

Zahi Abdul-Sater¹  Mac Skelton²  Marwa Kahtan³  Mohammed Saleem⁴  Ahmed Moyed Al-Bakir⁵  Saad Alsaad⁶  Ahmed Khalid Al-Mash'hadani⁷  Ahmed Hazim Al-Samarai⁷  Layth Mula-Hussain⁸ 

[1] Global Health Institute, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon;College of Public Health, Phoenicia University, Mazraat El Daoudiyeh, Lebanon;Institute of Regional and International Studies, American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq;Global Oncology Group, King's College London, London, United Kingdom;Medical Oncology Department, Diyala Cancer Center, Baqubah, Iraq;Medical Oncology Department, Kirkuk Oncology and Hematology Center, Kirkuk, Iraq;Medical Oncology Department, Specialized Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Hospital, Mosul, Iraq;Medical Oncology Department, Tikrit Oncology Center, Tikrit, Iraq;Oncology Department, Anbar Cancer Center, Ramadi, Iraq;Radiation Oncology Department, Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Centre, Muscat, Oman;Oncology Department, College of Medicine, Ninevah University, Mosul, Iraq;

关键词: cancer;    oncology;    conflict;    Iraq war;    Mosul;    Islamic State;    political economy;    therapeutic geographies;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fonc.2023.1151242

 received in 2023-01-25, accepted in 2023-04-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

War and cancer have been intertwined in Iraq for over three decades, a country where the legacies and ongoing impacts of conflict have been commonly associated with both increased cancer rates as well as the deterioration of cancer care. Most recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) violently occupied large portions of the country’s central and northern provinces between 2014 and 2017, causing devastating impacts on public cancer centers across central and northern Iraq. Focusing on the five Iraqi provinces previously under full or partial ISIL occupation, this article examines the immediate and long-term impacts of war on cancer care across three periods (before, during, and after the ISIL conflict). As there is little published data on oncology in these local contexts, the paper relies primarily upon the qualitative interviews and lived experience of oncologists serving in the five provinces studied. A political economy lens is applied to interpret the results, particularly the data related to progress in oncology reconstruction. It is argued that conflict generates immediate and long-term shifts in political and economic conditions that, in turn, shape the rebuilding of oncology infrastructure. The documentation of the destruction and reconstruction of local oncology systems is intended to benefit the next generation of cancer care practitioners in the Middle East and other conflict-affected regions areas in their efforts to adapt to conflict and rebuild from the legacies of war.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Skelton, Al-Mash'hadani, Abdul-Sater, Saleem, Alsaad, Kahtan, Al-Samarai, Al-Bakir and Mula-Hussain