Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women worldwide, representing 25-35% of all female cancer cases. While breast cancer incidence rates are higher in high-income countries than in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), case-fatality rates are disproportionately higher in LMICs, due to limited capacity to implement prevention, early detection and treatment programs.
In Tanzania, breast cancer represents 14.4% of new cancers among women. The age-standardized breast cancer incidence in Tanzania is 19.4/100,000 women and the age-standardized breast cancer mortality rate is 9.7/100,000. This translates to a mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) of 0.5, indicating that half of all women diagnosed with breast cancer in Tanzania will die of the disease. The numbers of new breast cancers are projected to increase from 2,732 in 2012, to 4,961 cases in 2030, an increase of 82%. Projections for breast cancer deaths follow the same pattern, with an increase of 80% in breast cancer deaths by 2030.Currently, approximately 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are diagnosed at advanced stages of disease and have limited access to early detection, diagnosis and treatment services. Consensus findings from a variety of retrospective studies point to late stage at diagnosis, with the majority of patients presenting with stage III or IV disease. A recent prospective study based at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) and Tumaini Hospital collected data on tumor stage, type and nodal status from 348 women, aged 28 to 79 years old with stage I-III breast cancer undergoing modified radical mastectomy. Patients with stage IV were excluded. The majority of patients (83.7%) presented with stage III disease and 16.3% with stage II.