Treatment Options for Hypopharyngeal Cancer in Developing Countries in Africa/South America/Asia.

Most cancers occur in developing countries, and therefore, a discussion about cancer care would be incomplete without providing a developing world perspective. This chapter focuses on challenges and practices relating to hypopharyngeal cancer in limited-resource public healthcare systems in developing countries and specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa, India and South America and by extension, most patients in the developing world. Management of hypopharyngeal cancer must be adapted to the availability of specialised diagnostic and therapeutic services, radiotherapy and surgical expertise, and tailored to patient factors such as reliability of follow-up and social support. A particular challenge for physicians is to decide who can be denied the opportunity to be cured when the burden of cancer cases exceeds available resources. Public education campaigns about reducing risk factors for hypopharyngeal cancer are an important aspect of reducing the burden of cancer.