Access Cancer Care India (ACCI)

Image of people from the Rajasthan study region

The Access Cancer Care India (ACCI) will design and evaluate a new multi-level strategy, contextualized to the local health system, to improve access to the early detection and care continuum among rural population in India, who are socio-economically disadvantaged and vulnerable to huge inequity in cancer care.

A strong and responsive cancer health system is necessary to ensure that the screen positive and/or symptomatic individuals have access to prompt diagnosis and those detected with cancer have access to appropriate treatment. ACCI will help improve the implementation of affordable early detection services to cancer coupled to addressing downstream cancer pathways at provider level, which is key to reducing inequalities in health.

The project is a collaboration between Kings College London, RTI International and International Agency for Research on Cancer. It will be implemented in West and Southern India by American India Institute of Medical Sciences in Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Cancer Institute Adyar and Karkinos Healthcare Private limited in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Kochi (Kerala) respectively.

STUDY REGIONS

This study focuses on implementation research for a well-validated, integrated early detection interventional approach for cancer in India. The three states for the study provide different and comparative implementation ecosystems to dissect out critical issues and barriers (logistical, political, social and economic) to support national scale up and inform other comparable countries globally.

OBJECTIVES

To design and evaluate a new multi-level strategy, integrated, and contextualised to the local health system, to improve access to the early detection and care continuum for oral, breast and cervical cancers among rural population in India.