Providing Pathology Support in Low-Income Countries

University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom Corresponding author: Kenneth A. Fleming, MD, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, 43 Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6HG, United Kingdom; e-mail: kenneth.fleming@ medsci.ox.ac.uk. The burden of cancer is on the rise. More than 7 million people per year die as a result of cancer, and it is responsible for more deaths worldwide than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, there were an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases in 2012. That number is projected to increase to more than 20 million each year by 2030. Nearly 60% of these new cases occur in the developing world with an expected increase to more than 70% in the next 15 years. Despite these alarming statistics, the proportion of the national budget allocated to health in most lowand middle-income countries (LMICs) is less than 5%, contrary to the Abuja Declaration of 2001 in which heads of state of African Union countries pledged to set a target of at least 15% of the national budget being allocated to improvements in the health sector.