Mumbai : SSO Cancer Hospitals, a leading chain of cancer hospitals dedicated solely to providing organ-specific care for cancers, has announced former South African cricket player Jonty Rhodes as their Brand Ambassador for Africa.
The purpose of this partnership is to increase awareness about cancer and promote the identification of cancer at an early stage in order to facilitate access to appropriate specialist expertise for patients living with complex or difficult (to diagnose) cancers throughout the African continent.
This announcement comes at a critical time as cancer is quickly becoming one of the greatest healthcare challenges facing African countries. According to the latest statistics for the continent, there were over 1.5 million new cases of cancer diagnosed during 2023, and there were more than 900,000 deaths from cancer in Africa. The number of people diagnosed with cancer is expected to continue to grow dramatically over the next several decades.
Awareness about cancer in Africa is increasing, but patients are still experiencing many barriers, such as delays in diagnosis; limited ability to access surgical specialists trained in treating and caring for patients with cancer; no multidisciplinary approach to treating and caring for patients with cancer; and uncertainty about where to get reliable second opinions.
As part of the partnership, Rhodes will engage in various activities related to raising awareness and educating patients about cancer and providing other types of support to patients with cancer including digital outreach activities, media activities and community-based activities to promote early identification of cancer and provide patients with accurate and timely information about treatment options.
This partnership is very different from traditional celebrity endorsements. The focus of this merger will be the impact on patients and helping to create a stronger healthcare collaborations between India and international patient communities.
SSO Cancer Hospitals has developed a strong reputation as an organ-specific cancer network that connects highly skilled surgical oncologists in breast, GI, thoracic, gynecology, urology, head and neck, and other complex cancer specialties. The network is focused on providing advanced cancer surgical treatment; multi-disciplinary treatment planning, and access to specialized cancer treatment.
Speaking on this collaboration, Jonty Rhodes said: “Cancer has a debilitating effect not only on the individual patient but also on the whole family. One of the greatest hurdles many individuals face is trying to determine from where and when to get the right assistance they require. What attracted me to SSO Cancer Hospitals was their dedication to providing specialist care and education to patients. This partnership will facilitate more discussions concerning cancer, assist with early detection, and aid individuals in making informed decisions regarding their treatment options. If just one Family’s awareness leads them to take action sooner than they would, it could have a tremendous impact.”
In terms of clinical care, this collaboration will address one of the major deficiencies in cancer care worldwide; this is the lack of access to organ-specific expertise for patients undergoing complex surgeries for cancer.
Dr. Sanket Mehta, Surgical Oncologist and Founder, SSO Cancer Hospitals, commented: In the past decade, there has been an enormous shift in treatment for Cancers. Currently, a significant number of cancer types require highly-trained surgeons who are focused on specific organ systems and who are also working with a multidisciplinary team. Unfortunately, there are patients who have had excessive time delays when it comes to being treated by the appropriate specialist and this is especially true for patients with complicated cancers associated with the pancreas, liver, esophagus, thorax, advanced gastrointestinal cancers, or paramount cancers. These delays can adversely affect how a patient will do post-treatment following surgery. This initiative seeks to increase awareness of the need for specialists to be responsible for treating those with complex cancer and thereby to increase the ability of patients to obtain specialist care.
This initiative supports SSO’s Mission of expanding access for quality Cancer Care on an international basis. It provides support for patients through multiple countries, serving them as they look for expert Cancer Care, get second opinions, and receive advanced surgical treatments.
Further commenting on this partnership, Rahul Singh, Chief Business Officer, SSO Cancer Hospitals, said: “Access to healthcare, including cancer treatment, is a critical issue in cancer care. Many believe they should be receiving treatment or at least know they would like to get serviced yet don’t necessarily know how to locate the right type of services or whether there would be any type of expectation to pay for it. The focus of this partnership is to help eliminate the gap between those who would like to receive treatment and those that provide the necessary types of services by developing trusted pathways that will connect patients and families with specialist teams of cancer service providers while still ensuring that patients who receive service are going to receive good quality and affordable service. We believe that there is no geographical limit when talking about services provided by experts, and we are committed to expanding the number of patients that we provide support to in Africa by using an awareness/education/and access to services model.”
Over the next year, we’ll implement multiple cancer awareness campaigns, develop various educational campaigns, share survivor stories and engage with the patients, establish community outreach programs, conduct media interviews, and develop digital awareness campaigns focusing on improving cancer literacy and motivating patients to seek treatment earlier.
Due to the increase of cancer diagnoses worldwide, many specialists in the field agree that the best ways to improve successful results from a patient’s diagnosis of cancer include awareness; early diagnosis; specialist treatment; able to access treatment and care when needed.
Bringing a well respected South African athlete together with an oncology dedicated only to cancer network, this partnership wants to create a lasting impact at the point of need to help patients access the right care at the right time.