Annually, over 4 million premature deaths are caused by cancer and up to 80% of those deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (Knaul et al. 2018). This panel focuses on the manifold causes of and potential solutions to address the complex inequities of what is referred to as the Global Cancer Divide (Knaul et al. 2012). We invite ethnographic papers that interrogate the challenges posed by the Global Cancer Divide, by exploring: the experiences of people living with and surviving cancer in resource poor communities and countries; how public health responses to cancer are shaped by biomedicine and other dominant morality complexes; the ways in which support for people living with cancer can be mobilised in the absence of strong health systems, including the contributions of grassroots organizations; the existence of local patterns of resilience in relation to cancer; and how culturally embedded complexes of stigma and fear influence people’s lived experiences of cancer.

The editors invite contributors to engage with the intersections of different forms of inequality that result in the incidence and outcomes of cancer in low- and middle-income countries, including the poorer rates of cancer survival in such settings. Potential areas of interest include, but are not limited to, studies that explore: culturally specific and gendered understandings and experiences of cancer and survivorship; cancer vulnerability and resilience from a life course perspective (from pre-cancer to post-survivorship); the creation of biosociality around cancer diagnosis and survivorship; and the gaps between the needs of cancer patients and health system capacity and orientation.

If you are interested in submitting a chapter please send an abstract to: Lenore Manderson at lenore.manderson@wits.ac.za.

Due: 11 November 2019

Editors: Lenore Manderson, Linda Bennett and Belinda Spagnoletti

Publisher: University College London Press