Radiotherapy (RT) is essential to effectively treat the most common cancers in low resource settings, yet there is a severe shortage of RT worldwide. Fair, principled systems for explicit rationing of this scarce but critical resource are needed. At Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, an oncology program supported by international partners is able to refer ten patients per month for RT. This project will develop an ethical approach to RT allocation at Butaro that can be applied broadly to other settings.
Our Grants
An Ethical Approach to Routine Tragic Choices: Radiotherapy Allocation in Rwanda
Rebecca DeBoer, MD, MA
University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
Grant Type
Making a Difference
Grant Cycle
spring 2018
Duration
2 years
Amount
$181,960
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Rebecca J DeBoer et al., Ethical dilemmas in prioritizing patients for scarce radiotherapy resources, BMC Medical Ethics, Jan 2024
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Rebecca J. DeBoer et al., Cervical cancer treatment in Rwanda: Resource-driven adaptations, quality indicators, and patient outcomes, Gynecologic Oncology, Dec 2021
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Rebecca J DeBoer et al., Procedural fairness for radiotherapy priority setting in a low resource context, Bioethics, Aug 2021
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Rebecca J DeBoer et al., Moral Distress and Resilience Associated with Cancer Care Priority Setting in a Resource-Limited Context, The Oncologist, May 2021
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Rebecca DeBoer et al., Applying lessons learned from low-resource settings to prioritize cancer care in a pandemic, JAMA Oncology, Aug 2020
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Grant Focus Areas
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