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Breast cancer in Africa: prevalence, treatment options, herbal medicines, and socioeconomic determinants

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Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. GLOBOCAN estimated about 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer diagnoses worldwide and about 522,000 deaths in 2012. The burden of breast cancer mortality lies in the developing low-income and middle-income countries, where about 70% of such deaths occur. The incidence of breast cancer is also rising in low-income and middle-income countries in Africa as trend towards urbanization, and adoption of Western lifestyles increases. In general, the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype tends to be frequent in women of African ancestry. What are the factors contributing to this prevalence? Are there genetic predispositions to TNBC in African women? This review addresses these questions and provides an update on the incidence, survival, and mortality of breast cancer in Africans, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africans. We have also addressed factors that could account for ethical disparities in incidence and mortality. Further, we have highlighted challenges associated with access to essential drug and to healthcare treatment in some African countries and outlined alternative/herbal treatment methods that are increasingly implemented in Africa and other developing nations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Raghuveera Kumar Goel for his critical review of the manuscript. The authors apologize to those whose work was not included owing to space limitations. Work in this article was supported over the years by funds to KEL from various organizations including the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF). YO is a recipient of the Lisa Rendall Breast Cancer Graduate Student Scholarship. JPK acknowledges the financial support of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5, Canada

    Kiven Erique Lukong & Yetunde Ogunbolude

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Regional University of Cariri, Campus Pimenta, Crato, Ceará, CEP: 63105-000, Brazil

    Jean Paul Kamdem

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  1. Kiven Erique Lukong
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Correspondence to Kiven Erique Lukong.

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Lukong, K.E., Ogunbolude, Y. & Kamdem, J.P. Breast cancer in Africa: prevalence, treatment options, herbal medicines, and socioeconomic determinants. Breast Cancer Res Treat 166, 351–365 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4408-0

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