Anatomic Pathology is a medical specialty that plays a critical role in the management of cancers. Its importance could be summarized at five main levels :
- Diagnostic, by guiding clinical decisions depending on diagnostic criteria of tumors
- Theranostic, by determining phenotypic and molecular features leading to the choice of targeted therapies
- Prognostic, by generating predictive data to evaluate the evolution of cancers
- Epidemiologic, with the provision of data utilizable for political decisions : ressources allocation, cancer screening programmes, etc.
- Research, through collection of cells and tissues for translational research, biobanking and through autopsies.
In sub-Saharan Africa, these goals are achieved with difficulty due to :
- The shortage of infrastructure to develop and maintain equipment and scale up the demand in pathology services
- The low level of performance of pathology services due to the lack of personnel, equipment and reagents leading to long turnaround times, sub-optimal cancer diagnosis and poor multidisciplinary coordination for patients treatment.
Solutions could be found through the mutualization of technological resources, the training of specialists and technicians in sufficient number, the rationalization of practices(SOPs, EQA…), the promotion of endogenous research to guide health policies and of multidisciplinary concertation for cancer patients care(tumor board), the advocacy for the discipline at national, regional and international levels including involvement of pathologists in politics and the promotion of public-private partnerships.