Doctors should lead the way in closing the gender gap in cancer

The care female cancer patients need goes well beyond the management of the disease, extending to areas like household and family responsibilities that usually fall on their shoulders. — Filepic

While it is acknowledged that access to life-saving diagnostics, treatments and medical technologies is responsible for much of the progress in cancer control that we have observed globally, these advances often fail to fully account for the unique barriers that women face as they navigate cancer prevention, care and survivorship.

This piece is inspired by my lived experience as a physician and public health medicine specialist in Malaysia, and my role as a commissioner of the Lancet Commission on Women, Power and Cancer.