An appointment moves quickly. The questions below are grouped by the point in care at which they are usually worth asking. Each is paired with what the answer settles. A question whose purpose is clear is easier to repeat when the first answer is incomplete.
Write down the ones that apply before you go and take the list with you. Mark the two or three that matter most, in case time runs short. Take someone with you as well if you can.
About the diagnosis
- What is the name of this cancer? Can I have it in writing? The type decides which tests, which treatment and which service apply. Nothing later in the list can be answered without it.
- Has a stage been given, and what is it? Stage describes how far the disease has spread. If it is not yet established, the next question is the one that matters.
- Which tests are still needed before a treatment decision can be made? Ask where each is done, how long it takes, and who tells you the result.
- Who is coordinating my care, and where do I go with a question between appointments? A name and a place are more useful than a department.
About the treatment
- What is this treatment aiming to do — cure, control the disease, or relieve symptoms? These are different goals and you are entitled to know which is being discussed.
- What does it involve, how many visits, over how long, and where does each one happen? This is the question that tells a family whether travel or accommodation is involved.
- What are the side effects, and which ones should bring me back straight away?
- What are the alternatives, if there are any, and what is the difference between them?
- What happens if I need to delay or interrupt the plan? Better asked now than after a missed visit.
About pain and other symptoms
Treating pain and other symptoms is a separate service from treating the cancer. It can run alongside treatment intended to cure. Ethiopia reported oral morphine available in its public health sector in 2021 (opens in a new tab). Ask for this treatment by name.
- Where can pain and symptom treatment be obtained, and by whom? Ask this as a separate question from the treatment plan, because it is a separate service.
- What do I need in order to be seen there — a referral, a card, a particular day, a payment?
- If pain is not controlled, who do I go back to? Ask for a name.
About cost
Out-of-pocket payment was 46% of Ethiopian health expenditure in 2023 (WHO Global Health Observatory (opens in a new tab), indicator GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011). Much of the cost of care is settled at the point of care, by the person receiving it. So the total is worth settling before a plan starts.
- What will this cost in total, including tests, medicines and follow-up? Ask before agreeing to a plan rather than after.
- What is charged and what is not, at this facility? Ask for it item by item — the facility treating you is where a real figure comes from.
- What will I need to obtain elsewhere, and where? Medicines, scans and pathology are not always provided in the same place.
- What will the travel involve, and how often? Practical and financial sets out the national financing figures and the questions that produce a total.
About records
Ask for the answers in writing, and keep them with the rest of your folder.
- Can I have a copy of the result, the report and the plan?
- What should I bring to the next appointment?
- Who holds the original file, and how would another facility obtain it?
If you are being screened rather than treated
Ethiopia’s cervical screening programme is opportunistic. Screening is offered at a visit rather than by invitation at a set age. So it is usually raised only if the woman raises it. Asking for it by name is what starts the conversation.
These questions belong to a different visit and are set out in full on the cervical screening and where to get screened pages. In short:
- Whether screening is offered here.
- Which test is used.
- What happens if the test is positive.
- Whether treatment can be given at the same visit.
- What the visit costs.
What you can do
- Write your questions down before the appointment and take the list in with you. Mark the two or three that matter most, in case time runs short.
- Ask what a word means as soon as you hear it. That is quicker than looking it up afterwards.
- Ask for the answers you need in writing — the name, the stage if given, and the plan.
- Take someone with you. The second person can hold the list. Families and carers covers what else that person can do.
- If an answer is incomplete, ask again. An unanswered question usually resurfaces later as a wasted journey.
The Ethiopian Organization for Cancer Prevention and Research (CPR – Ethiopia) is a prevention and research organisation. The contact page sets out what it responds to.