​​​​​​​​​The World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region is currently facing an immense burden of cancer. As this region continues to be a site of numerous protracted crises, with over 50% of the region experiencing humanitarian emergencies, non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are increasingly prevalent in displaced and host populations there. Ageing, migration patterns, and associated sociocultural lifestyle changes, such as poor nutrition, tobacco consumption, and low levels of physical activity, have exacerbated exposure to cancer risk factors and have contributed to increasing cancer incidence. 

In light of this, Dr. Fouad Fouad from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB), along with other researchers from the Yale School of Public Health, the Global Health Institute at AUB and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, published a comment in The Lancet on the political economy of cancer care in conflict settings. ​

The researchers highlighted two essential steps to begin to address cancer care in humanitarian contexts: (i) developing a global strategy to address cancer care in humanitarian settings; and (ii) investing more resources and research into access to cancer treatment, specifically through a political economy analysis. 

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