INVESTIGATING GEOGRAPHIC AND FINANCIAL ACCESS OF CANCER PATIENTS TO RADIOTHERAPY SERVICES IN UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI TEACHING HOSPITAL CANCER CENTER, NORTH-EAST NIGERIA

Introduction: Access to radiotherapy remains grossly inadequate, especially in low-and-middle income (LMIC) countries like Nigeria.7 With only about 14 functional linear accelerators and 8 high-dose rate brachytherapy machines available to serve a population of about 230 million people, access to radiotherapy is grossly limited in Nigeria.8,9 Even with the shortage, there is significant disparity across the various states and geopolitical regions. This study sought to investigate the geographical and financial access to radiotherapy by cancer patients presenting to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Cancer Center, which is a new cancer center situated in Borno state, Northeast Nigeria. Materials and method: It was a retrospective cross- sectional study comprising of cancer patients who were treated at UMTH Cancer Center between August 2023 and September 2024. Data analysis was done using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. Result: A total of 364 patients were included in the study with mean age of patients was 48.7 ± 14.9 years, and median 50 years (IQR: 40 – 60 years). Breast 102(28.0%), cervical 73(20.1%) and head & neck cancers 68(18.7%) were the commonest cancers treated. The Median distance of patients’ residence from UMTH cancer Center was 542 km (IQR: 407- 767 km). Overwhelmingly, 361(99.2%) of patients paid for radiotherapy via out-of-pocket expenditure, despite 39(10.7%) of them having national health insurance coverage. Conclusion: The study found that there were constraints to geographic and financial access to radiotherapy among most cancer patients at UMTH Cancer Center. These geographic and financial barriers, grossly limit access to radiotherapy by Nigerian cancer patients requiring such essential services.