The Effects of Limited Perspectives in Global Health Literature on Transnational Disparities in Cancer Mortality

Abstract

Despite advancements in technology and knowledge, the global impact of cancer has continued to rise with more deaths each year. Particularly, low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) have shouldered the majority of this burden, with most of the cancer deaths worldwide occurring in these regions. While the specific reasons behind this disparity vary within individual regions, overarching trends within the field are constant. Global health’s history and methodological commitments to paradigms mediated in Western biomedicine have failed to prioritize LMICs with regards to non-communicable disease, resulting in resource scarcity, sociocultural conflicts, and systemic obstacles to care. In this paper, I engage with a literature review of sources in biomedicine and medical anthropology to illuminate the institutional challenges that define this reality and assert anthropology’s role within the field of global health to address the diverse considerations that we must account for to redefine harmful narratives and offer holistic care to cancer sufferers, globally.