Key Stakeholders' Experiences, Knowledge and Perspectives Regarding Care Quality for Breast Cancer in South-West Nigeria

Adewumi Alabi ^1,2 Victoria Ainsworth ^3,4* Abdulrazzaq Lawal ⁵ Darya Kizub ⁶ Jennifer Chin ⁴ Carly Woodmark ⁷ Olubukola Omidiji ¹ Bolanle Adegboyega ^1,2 Anthonia Chima Sowunmi ^1,2 Adedoyin Ogunyemi ⁸ William Swanson ⁹ Adedayo Joseph ^1,2 Wil Ngwa ⁴

• ¹ Department of Radiation Biology, Radiotherapy, Radio-diagnosis and Radiography, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
• ² Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria
• ³ University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, United States
• ⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• ⁵ College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
• ⁶ University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States
• ⁷ Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, United States
• ⁸ Department of Community Health and Primary Health Care, College of Medicine, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria
• ⁹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, New York, United States

Patients with breast cancer in Nigeria face numerous barriers to and delays in care individually and structurally. These are often compounded by community-wide lack of breast cancer awareness, lack of funds, and fear. The submitted manuscript details patient experiences from their breast cancer treatment journeys and the outcomes of a subsequent continuing medical education (CME) course on breast cancer for providers. These efforts reflect the mission of Frontiers in Oncology particularly as they pertain to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) three and ten. This work identifies areas needing improvement in Nigerian breast cancer care from breast cancer patient testimony and reports on the outcomes of a CME created in part from the testimony. This work then advocates for further CME courses as well as community awareness initiatives, suggesting that partnering with local practitioners (spiritualists, herbalists, pharmacists, nurses etc.) would increase access and quality of care, facilitating screenings and earlier diagnosis. These efforts connect well with SDG goals focused on healthy lives and promotion of well-being as well as reducing inequalities within and among countries.