Does social support buffer the impact of stress on health among people living with sickle cell disease? A cross-sectional study.

In this cross-sectional study, we examined the contributions of social support in mitigating the burden that sickle cell disease (SCD) has on the well-being of patients living with the condition. SCD patients ( = 139) in Nigeria completed measures of sickle cell distress, social support, and quality of life. Although we found that SCD distress was strongly associated with poorer quality of life, across domains; social support did not mitigate the impact that SCD distress had on the quality of life of patients.

Brain Drain in Cancer Care: The Shrinking Clinical Oncology Workforce in Nigeria.

Purpose: A recent estimate indicates that Nigeria has about 70 clinical oncologists (COs) providing care for 124,815 patients with cancer and its 213 million total population. This staggering deficit is likely to worsen as about 90% of Nigerian physicians are eager to leave the country for perceived greener pastures in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc. Previous studies have examined general physician migration abroad; however, the CO workforce in Nigeria has been barely considered in the workforce literature.

Status of Government-Funded Radiotherapy Services in Nigeria.

Purpose: Access to radiotherapy (RT) is now one of the stark examples of global cancer inequities. More than 800,000 new cancer cases require potentially curative or palliative RT services in Africa, arguably <15% of these patients currently have access to this important service. For a population of more than 206 million, Nigeria requires a minimum of 280 RT machines for the increasing number of cancer cases.