Implementation of a National Pediatric Cancer Registry in Ethiopia: A systems (“A3”) thinking approach

Abstract

Cancer registries allow for the collection of key data associated with patient demographics, diagnoses, and treatments, making them an essential tool for research aimed to improve the quality of care in patients with cancer. Previously, a pediatric cancer registry did not exist in Ethiopia, and prevented the collection of such data. In order to address this gap, a group of oncology clinicians and implementation scientists from the University of North Carolina worked in collaboration with all five pediatric cancer centers within Ethiopia to identify barriers and facilitators associated with a piloted REDCap registry, provide necessary training, and perform workflow analyses to create one integrated process for a pediatric cancer registry. Based on these analyses, deficiencies in the current process were identified and standard operating procedures were developed for each cancer center to guide data collection. These advancements led to the launch of Ethiopia's first pediatric hospital based cancer registry.