Revisiting Alma Ata: A Blueprint for Cancer Care

Revisiting Alma Ata: A Blueprint for Cancer Care

Despite significant advances in oncology, cancer care globally continues to face critical challenges, including stark disparities in access, insufficient preventive focus, fragmented primary health care (PHC) integration, unsustainable financing models, workforce shortages, and inadequate community...

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Main Authors: Javier-David Benitez-Fuentes MD, MSc, Rodrigo Lastra del Prado MD, MSc, Miguel Borregon-Rivilla MD, MSc, Alicia de Luna Aguilar MD, MSc, Antonio-David Lazaro-Sanchez MD, MSc, PhD, Asia Ferrández-Arias MD, Paula Rodríguez Payá MD, Beatriz Grau Mirete MD, Teresa Quintanar Verduguez MD, Elena Asensio Martinez MD, Patricia Iranzo MD, PhD, Ana Callejo MD, PhD, Mara Cruellas Lapeña MD, PhD, Jacobo Gómez Ulla MD, MSc, Alvaro Rodriguez-Lescure MD, PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-07-01
Series:Cancer Control
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/10732748251363701
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Summary:Despite significant advances in oncology, cancer care globally continues to face critical challenges, including stark disparities in access, insufficient preventive focus, fragmented primary health care (PHC) integration, unsustainable financing models, workforce shortages, and inadequate community involvement. This paper revisits the Alma Ata Declaration’s principles—health equity, universal access, preventive care, and community participation—as a conceptual framework to address these persistent issues in cancer care. We highlight opportunities to strategically integrate oncology services within strengthened PHC systems, balancing centralized specialist resources with decentralized community-based care. Evidence from diverse settings illustrates how reinforcing PHC infrastructures enhances preventive measures, early detection, and survivorship care, thus mitigating geographic and socioeconomic disparities. Sustainable financing mechanisms and targeted workforce strategies, including task-shifting and multidisciplinary training, are proposed as essential components. Effective community engagement models demonstrate improved care relevance, acceptance, and outcomes. Additionally, we emphasize the critical role of health policy alignment with universal health coverage objectives, robust pharmacoeconomic evaluations, and evidence-based national cancer control plans. Integrating Alma Ata’s principles into contemporary oncology provides a viable, scalable model to advance equitable, accessible, and sustainable cancer care globally, laying the theoretical groundwork for future research initiatives and informed policy development.
ISSN:1526-2359

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