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).