BMJ  2005;331:779 (1 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7519.779-a

Letter

A theme issue by, for, and about Africa

Collaborative work between Nigeria and UK on breast cancer has been successful

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Breast cancer is a rapidly emerging disease in Africa.1 It has similar implications for African women as HIV, but it receives little attention in terms of publicity, funding (both overseas and internally), and local research. Affected women are young and poor and present with late stage disease. Five year survival is 5-15% compared with over 60% in developed countries.2 3 The disease is controlled by mutilating surgery. Without prosthetic support, the patient rapidly loses self esteem and may die young.

We encountered many challenges with research governance in studying the pattern of occurrence and molecular genetic variations of breast cancer in Nigeria and the UK.4 Ethics approval in Nigeria is not well structured. Existing consent forms are generic and do not cover special collaborations such as genetic studies. Tracing patients to request consent for the use of archive material is difficult. Post and telecommunications do not always work. Record . . . [Full text of this article]

Isaac D Gukas, lecturer

i.gukas@uea.ac.uk
School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ

Barbara A Jennings, senior lecturer, Samuel J Leinster, professor of medical education, Ian Harvey, professor of epidemiology

School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ


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