Approximately 60% of all cancers need a surgical intervention.
Cancers that require reconstructive plastic surgery include breast cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers. ReSurge provides surgical care for all of these conditions.
Once thought to be a problem almost exclusive to the developed world, cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability, and thus a health priority, in poor countries.
Melanoma and other skin cancers commonly require reconstructive plastic surgery. Most other types of cancer, including breast cancer, the number one cancer among women in the world, may require reconstructive plastic surgical care in a significant minority of cases. ReSurge provides training in breast reconstruction and delivers reconstructive plastic surgical care to cancer patients in need.
A woman who develops breast cancer in the USA or UK has an 85–90 percent chance of survival; in many low-income countries, her odds of survival are as low as 10–25 percent. Over 50 percent of deaths from breast cancer occur in less developed regions, where gender discrimination and extreme poverty severely limit a woman’s choice to seek care. The growing cancer burden has especially harsh consequences for women due to gender discrimination, stigma, and cultural taboos, along with well-founded fears of abandonment or even violence, all of which conspire to limit women’s choices to seek care even when it is available.