Challenges to Bringing Personalized Medicine to a Low-Resource Setting in Peru

• Main Authors: Nelly Solis, Elizabeth Zavaleta, Patrik Wernhoff, Constantino Dominguez-Barrera, Mev Dominguez-Valentin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: precision medicine; low-resource setting; vulnerable population
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1470
• ISSN: 1661-7827; 1660-4601

We provide an overview of the challenges that low-resource setting cities are facing, including a lack of global implementation of cancer screening programs, accurate data and statistics that may aid the health authorities and guide future public health activities, as well as reorient strategies, interventions and budgets to promote lifestyles that help prevent disease. Current cancer care does not fully reflect ethnic, cultural, environmental and resource differences. Herein, we described a snapshot of the cancer mortality and morbidity from a hospital that cares a rural and low-income population from Peru, called Chimbote (316,966 inhabitants) and showed the limitation of access to oncological care and genetic services. The city is located in the region of Ancash, which is a department of Northern Peru. Of note, we identified a greater proportion of cancer cases than previously described, with a young age of onset and differential profile of the most frequent cancers. With the emergence of increasingly effective interventions, it becomes paramount that populations living in resource-limited settings have access to cancer services and participate in genetics and genomic research.