El Salvador has made significant progress in terms of implementing its National Cancer Control Plan, concluded a team of international experts during a recent imPACT Review mission to the country. To continue leveraging earlier achievements such as the new national law for the prevention, control and care of patients with cancer, however, more work is needed to streamline data collection, harmonize the delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic services across institutions, and reliably estimate costs.
The Review — carried out from February to June 2023 on request of the Salvadoran Ministry of Health – included a week-long field programme and resulted in a comprehensive set of tailor-made recommendations based on existing cancer control efforts in the country and in line with international quality and safety standards.
Among its population of 6.5 million, El Salvador reports over 9600 new cancer cases annually, primarily of the prostate and breast. The country's public health system provides full coverage of its services to such patients, who are typically referred to one of three national hospitals — Benjamin Bloom, Nacional de la Mujer and Rosales.
“The IAEA’s technical cooperation program with El Salvador has been instrumental to support the strengthening of cancer prevention and control initiated by the Government after the imPACT Review in 2015. Therefore, we gladly welcome this important tool, which gives us the opportunity to periodically evaluate the progress made and to develop new strategies adapted to the capacities and needs of the country,” said Adriana Mira, Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador.
The Ministry of Health facilitated visits by the international imPACT team — comprising 11 cancer professionals appointed by IAEA, WHO-PAHO and IARC — to 18 hospitals and health clinics. This included a field trip to the regional hospital of Santa Ana and meeting more than 100 national health professionals as part of the Review.