During the full-scale war in Ukraine, the number of detected cases of cancer has decreased. However, this does not mean that people have become less prone to the disease. On the contrary, doctors and researchers are warning of a dangerous trend of late diagnosis caused by a decrease in visits to doctors and poorer access to medical examinations.
This is stated in a report prepared by the research agency Sense Research on behalf of the Mission Kharkiv charitable foundation. As part of the project, official epidemiological data for 2012–2024 was analyzed, interviews and focus groups with 35 doctors were conducted, and 340 patients with cancer living in frontline communities in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions were surveyed.
“The topic of the project is very sensitive, and such studies are rare in Ukraine. We worked under significant constraints: a lack of reliable epidemiological data, internal and external migration, varying lengths of comparable periods, and other factors,” explains Svitlana Bolman, founder of the Sense Research agency. “At the same time, these limitations do not diminish the analytical value of the results, but rather define the limits of their interpretation and practical application.”
Prevention has almost disappeared
The most alarming sign is the shift in the stages at which cancer is detected. The proportion of diagnoses at stages I–II has decreased, while the number of cases detected at stage IV has increased. This means worse treatment outcomes and higher mortality risks.
As noted in the report, during the war, screenings and preventive examinations took a back seat. Doctors explain this by the fact that people are focused on safety and basic survival, rather than scheduled medical visits. Almost every second patient did not consider their initial symptoms serious enough to seek immediate medical attention.
Are money and place of residence important?
Although the Medical Guarantees Program provides free services and medications, the patients surveyed in the study partially paid for diagnostics or treatment for various reasons — 7 out of 10 patients incurred additional financial costs.
At the same time, 62% of respondents still received part of their medical care free of charge from the state. Doctors add that not all modern treatment methods are covered by state programs, in particular immune and targeted therapy.
The study also shows that access to examinations largely depends on place of residence. In villages and small communities, only a basic list of tests is available, while CT, MRI, or mammography can be performed mainly in regional centers. Travel is complicated by security risks, queues, and power outages. As a result, residents of regional centers are much more likely to rate access to cancer care as high than residents of districts and rural areas.
How the war affects the mental health of cancer patients and the work of doctors
Patients with cancer show high levels of stress. Women, people with lower incomes, and patients who have waited a long time for a diagnosis are the most vulnerable to stress.
At the same time, doctors are forced to adapt their work to the conditions of war. They try to “condense” patient routes so that the maximum number of examinations can be performed in one visit, select alternative medical facilities depending on the security situation and the availability of medicines, and perform not only medical but also psychological and navigational roles for patients.
In view of this, researchers emphasize the need to improve and speed up the process of diagnosing possible oncological diseases, to more actively accompany patients—especially older ones—and to reduce financial and informational barriers to access to medical care.
* Research within the framework of the project “Voice of the Community: Stress, Oncology, and the Right to Health” was conducted by the research companies Sense Research and New Image MG on behalf of the Mission Kharkiv charitable foundation with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the project “Impulse: Expanding Civil Society Opportunities for Sustainability and Recovery in Ukraine,” implemented with funding from Norway (Norad) and Sweden (Sida) in partnership with the Eastern Europe Foundation.
Source: Oboz
