Take one appointment at a time. Three answers shape everything that follows. They are the name of the cancer, the stage if one has been given, and what the treatment is meant to achieve. You can ask for all three, and you can ask for them in writing.
Few people take in everything they are told on the day. Bring paper, and bring someone with you if you can.
Where to start
- Questions to ask — the full list, grouped by appointment, so you can take it with you.
- Practical and financial — what to ask about cost, travel and time away from work before a plan starts.
- Families and carers — what someone with you can do that does not need medical knowledge.
- Cancer in Ethiopia — the national picture, for when you are ready.
What the figures show
Cancer is not one disease. The name you have been given is what decides what follows. The ten largest sites estimated for Ethiopia in 2024 ran from breast at 18,840 cases to non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 2,018 (opens in a new tab). Those are modelled estimates for 2024.
Cancer surgery, radiotherapy, pathology laboratories, an operational cancer plan and oral morphine were all reported available in Ethiopia’s public health sector in 2021 (WHO Global Health Observatory). Radiotherapy capacity was 0.09 units per million people that year (indicator DEVICES22).
Out-of-pocket payment was 46% of Ethiopian health expenditure in 2023 (WHO Global Health Observatory, indicator GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011). So it is worth asking what a plan will cost before it begins.
Keep your own folder
A folder you keep yourself is the quickest way to answer a question at any appointment. Keep these together:
- Test results, and scan and pathology reports.
- The names of the doctors you have seen, and where.
- The date of each appointment.
- The names and doses of any medicines.
Be careful with
- Anyone selling a cure — a product, a treatment abroad, or a prayer for payment.
- Advice to delay medical treatment while something else is tried first.
- Survival figures found online. They are averages from other countries and other health systems. They describe populations rather than people.
Where else to look
For general information about a specific cancer, the World Health Organization (opens in a new tab) publishes plain-language fact sheets. Cancer Research UK (opens in a new tab) and the American Cancer Society (opens in a new tab) both maintain detailed guides by cancer type. They describe other health systems, so treatment and cost will differ here. What does not differ is the disease, and the questions worth asking.
Ethiopian Organization for Cancer Prevention and Research (CPR – Ethiopia) is a prevention and research organisation. It does not provide clinical care. The contact page sets out what we respond to.