Before Stamford-based AmeriCares and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals arrived three years ago at Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, women suffering from breast cancer had little chance of survival.
Doctors at the hospital were unfamiliar with breast cancer treatment, and women often arrived at the hospital with advanced stages of the disease, too late for life-saving procedures.
"The hospital was seeing 20 patients a year for breast cancer," said Ella Gudwin, vice president of strategic program development at AmeriCares, noting that for the 12 months ending March 31, the number had increased to 123. "The program has exceeded most of its targets. This is the only successful breast cancer program for poor Cambodian patients. The average patient is earning $2 a day. Chemotherapy would be the equivalent of four years of income."
Based on the results, AmeriCares and AstraZeneca, based in Wilmington, Del., have made a three-year commitment to expand early breast cancer detection and treatment in the Southeast Asian country. The renewed commitment expands a program that provides free cancer screenings, medications, patient education and medical staff training at the charity hospital involving the two partners.
"By expanding the program, we will provide the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope with the vital resources necessary to treat women diagnosed with breast cancer who would not otherwise be able to afford treatment. We will also broaden our efforts to reach thousands more with breast cancer education, as studies have shown the importance of education and early detection in increasing survival rates," said Dr. Frank Bia, medical director for AmeriCares.
The program goal is to treat 600 women annually by 2014.
"This collaboration with AmeriCares makes it possible for AstraZeneca to get critical medications to the women who need them in Cambodia and helps ensure cancers are detected and treated earlier," said Jennifer McGovern, director of patient assistance programs at AstraZeneca, which began its relationship with AmeriCares in 2005 to support Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.
An alarming number of Cambodian women die every year because of a lack of public awareness, limited cancer screening opportunities and the high cost of treatment. At the Phnom Penh hospital, cancer patients are given anti-hormonal treatment, lab testing and surgery at no cost.
AstraZeneca provides its Arimidex and Faslodex drugs for various treatment programs, some of which take five years. It also gave $105,000 for the first three years of the program and has pledged $276,297 for the ensuing three years.
AstraZeneca also provides AmeriCares with products for its clinics in El Salvador, Tanzania and Haiti, said McGovern.
She added that AstraZeneca started its patient assistance program in the United States 30 years ago, and is extending a similar effort to those in other countries through AmeriCares.
Since it was established in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $9 billion in humanitarian aid to 147 countries. In fiscal year 2010, it delivered more than $850 million in program services and medical assistance to 97 countries.
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