2018 SIOP Global Mapping Africa
In the initial effort of the SIOP Global Mapping Programme
survey10, a total of 109 responses were received from
facilities across 46 African countries. Information about facilities’
physical infrastructure for pediatric oncology is detailed in Table 1.
Only nine responses were from nurses (8.3%); the rest were primarily
from physicians: heads of division (43.5%), consultants (41.7%), and
junior faculty (2.8%). There was one survey question about how many
nurses care for children with cancer at least 75% of their time.
Twenty-three participants (21%) reported that they had no nurse who
cared for children with cancer >75% of the time at their
centres, 30 (28%) had 1-5 nurses who did so, 20 (18%) had 6 – 10, and
6 (5%) had 11 – 15. Ten (9%) had 16 – 20 nurses caring for children
>75% of the time, while seven (6%) had >20
nurses who do so. For every unit increase in the number of beds, there
was a 10% reduction in the number of nurses working for more than 75%
of their time in pediatric oncology. This was, however, not
statistically significant (p = 0.313).
Greater than two-thirds (66%) of the facilities had a
dietician/nutritionist, physiotherapist, social worker, or pharmacist.
Approximately half (53%) had volunteers, a palliative care team, a
psychologist, spiritual/religious support, and patient support groups.
One-third or less (28%) had a play therapist/child life specialist,
bereavement counsellor or schoolteacher (see Table 2). However, the
survey did not ask if these professionals were dedicated only to caring
for children with cancer.
SIOP Africa 2019: Research
priorities for pediatric oncology nursing in Africa
The nurse participants at SIOP Africa 2019 in Cairo, Egypt,
submitted 54 research questions; 46 were retained once duplicates had
been removed. Eight main themes for research were identified, with the
two most common being professional practice and counselling and
psychosocial support (Fig. 1). The principal research population
priority was nurses, alongside parents and children (Fig. 2).