HONG KONG, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking for the first time at the World Cancer Congress in Hong Kong this week, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation, will share its experiences from its cancer programmes in Mali and Malawi, highlighting that cancer care is possible in resource-limited settings, but urgent action is needed to break barriers to accessing prevention, timely diagnosis and adequate treatment.

The burden of cancer is already a growing public health threat in many countries where MSF works – and women are disproportionately affected. About 80 per cent of deaths from breast and cervical cancer worldwide happen in low- and middle-income countries. By 2050, global health experts estimate the number of cancer cases in such countries will rise by 150 per cent.

"Ten years ago during the Syrian crisis, we were ill-equipped to respond to the health needs of displaced people whose treatment for non-communicable diseases, including cancer, had been abruptly interrupted by the conflict," says Dr Claire Rieux, MSF's medical director. "Today, our teams provide cancer care, from screening to treatment and palliative care, in several countries. We partner with ministries of health, inspiring practitioners, community networks and experts in the fight against cancer. We are eager to keep learning and contribute to advance greater equity in this field."

Cancer Care in Mali and Malawi

Over the last five years, MSF has developed and supported cancer-related activities in countries including Malawi, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Eswatini.

In Mali, more than 2,300 women received medical care for breast or cervical cancer between 2021 and 2025 through the programme run by MSF and its partners in Bamako. A retrospective study to assess treatment results of women cared for by MSF and the Malian Ministry of Health between 2019 and 2022 shows tangible progress – despite unreliable access to radiotherapy, security constraints and the many obstacles that stand in the way of care for people living with cancer. Only one quarter of the patients were diagnosed at an early stage of the disease, but the proportion kept improving over time – for instance, for women with cervical cancer, it doubled between 2019 (14 per cent) and 2022 (28 per cent). The retrospective study also found global survival rates for women with breast cancer that stood at 91 per cent a year after the diagnosis and 72 per cent after three years. These rates are promising but should be interpreted with caution given the high proportion of patients whose survival status was unknown in the study (30 per cent of "lost to follow up" patients).

In Malawi, our programme in Blantyre helps to tackle the world's second-highest cervical cancer mortality rate by facilitating access to palliative care and treatment, including chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, and to prevention tools, including vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), early screening and treatment of precancerous lesions. In Blantyre district, the coverage of cervical cancer screening increased from 40 per cent in 2019 to close to 60 per cent last year.

MSF also joined the PAVE study, an international research project designed to trial a new, low-cost strategy for screening and treating pre-cancerous cervical lesions in resource-limited settings. The strategy, which combines HPV genotyping and artificial intelligence-automated visual evaluation to detect precancerous lesions, was found particularly effective to achieve better detection and to better identify the most at-risk women in need of urgent treatment. Yet improved screening yields limited results if the next stages of diagnosis and care remain unavailable, unaffordable or oversubscribed.

Calling for Greater Access to Cancer Care

"Too often, people with cancer are denied access to treatment and care not because effective tools do not exist, but because they are priced out of reach, unavailable when they are needed, or not suitable for resource-limited settings and countries. It's time for countries and funders to show a strong political will to close this gap by investing in cancer care and ensuring that lifesaving diagnostics and treatments are affordable, adaptable and available for people in low-resource and humanitarian settings," says Dr Zarak Jan, MSF Access advocacy advisor.

MSF will speak on Friday 25 September in two sessions: Cancer care in humanitarian crises: from neglect to action and Making cancer care possible: sharing experiences from MSF in humanitarian and low-resource settings. Through this unique opportunity, MSF aims to advocate for greater access to comprehensive care for people with cancer, exchange ideas with the global cancer community and learn about the latest innovations and successful initiatives in cancer control.

About MSF

MSF is an independent international medical humanitarian organisation. We are committed to providing emergency medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters, and those who have been excluded from the health care system. MSF will only provide assistance based on people's needs, regardless of race, religion, gender or politics.