» Cancer Patients in Mexico Face Dire Scenario in Wake of COVID-19

workers, educators, police, and global humanitarians have been warning for months: that the pandemic’s isolation policies are exacerbating domestic violence. The researchers specifically found an average 7.9 percent increase in international domestic violence incidents and an average 8.1 percent spike in the U.S.

But given that the researchers narrowed their analysis to academic studies that met specific criteria and were published in English, Piquero is certain that the increases are even far bigger than their report reflects. “There’s no doubt it is a lot worse than 8 percent. Just imagine all the stuff that we have no data on—the places where the machismo is so strong or where gender norms are so different,” he said. “And all we looked at is physical abuse. Imagine the emotional abuse that doesn’t get reported. Imagine the kids in those homes who witnessed the violence. There is a whole toll there that people haven’t talked about or studied.”

Added Knaul, who co-chairs the Lancet Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People, “Violence against women and children was a pandemic before COVID and will continue to be one after, unless we meet this public health crisis head on with policies, resources, and changes in attitudes and norms.”

While the researchers found strong evidence of a spike, they said the dynamics driving the trend aren’t as clear. But they believe that lockdowns exacerbated the factors, including job loss, childcare stresses, and financial insecurity, typically associated with domestic violence. They also suggested that the use of alcohol and other substances as a coping strategy elevated the threat, as did isolation from friends, neighbors, teachers, and other people who ordinarily would report signs of abuse or intervene.

Citing the report, Thomas Abt, director of the commission led by former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzales and Loretta Lynch, called on policymakers to provide additional resources for domestic abuse prevention and victim services—something Piquero said must happen before the next pandemic.

“We need to make sure that the domestic violence shelters are ready for this. We need to make sure that police departments do welfare checks on prior victims, and we need to ensure people who need help can reach out—with apps that enable them to do so confidentially,” he said. “We also have to study what goes wrong during a lockdown, so we can prevent it the next time. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on so many people’s lives that we can see—with last week marking 500,000 deaths—but in so many other ways, we have just begun to scratch the surface.”

In addition to Piquero and Knaul, the co-authors of the report included Wesley G. Jennings, chair and professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at the University of Mississippi; Erin Jemison, manager at the Crime and Justice Institute; and Catherine (Katie) Kaukinen, chair and professor of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida.

Felicia Knaul, Ph.D.

Written by Michael R. Malone Published on February 5, 2021 Category: University of Miami President, Faculty, Event

In a recent webinar, public health experts explored what should be happening in the Latin American country to assist those facing the deadly disease during the pandemic.

University of Miami President Julio Frenk joined a panel of other public health experts on World Cancer Day last week to explore how the battle against the COVID-19 virus in Mexico and fledgling health care reforms have exacerbated an already critical situation for cancer patients.

The event, “Attention for Cancer Patients in Mexico during COVID-19,” hosted in part by the University’s Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, was moderated by Felicia Knaul, institute director, public health expert, and a cancer survivor. The session aimed to inspire action and to raise awareness for the plight of patients in Mexico suffering from cancer.

Knaul launched the session by sharing data from a newly released article in the The Lancet Oncologymedical journal that detailed the shortages of oncological medicines and documented how treatments for cancer patients in Mexico, especially those with breast cancer, have been delayed, eliminated, or modified in the wake of health care reforms and the government’s attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s likely that we will see a tsunami of deaths in the coming years if things don’t change,” she said, highlighting

indicators and trends from the report.

Frenk lamented the Mexican government’s “abysmal” response to managing the pandemic and contrasted the newly implemented government-managed health program with the universal health care coverage offered for many years through Seguro Popular.

As Mexico’s health minister from 2000 to 2006, Frenk was instrumental in fueling the effort to create and implement that policy, which provided coverage and care to more than 50 million Mexicans. Seguro Popular was slowly dismantled and officially ceased to exist on Jan. 1, 2020, replaced by a health program known as INSABI [its Spanish-language acronym] and directed by the National Health Institute for Wellbeing. Cancer care for children and for women with breast cancer were among the priorities for Seguro Popular and a specific fund provided free care for all cancer treatment for children, according to Frenk. Among the policy’s many successes, he highlighted the fact that, prior to Seguro Popular, some 30 percent of Mexican women with breast cancer abandoned their treatment and care due to lack of money; after its implementation, that percentage dropped to 3 percent.

“What we’re seeing today are the results of the failure,” Frenk said, “and it’s not government officials but cancer patients in Mexico who are bearing the suffering.”

Those participating in the two panels included Salomon Chertorivski, a former Mexican health minister and president of the consultancy coalition “Thinking About Mexico”; Rocio Saenz, dean of the University of Costa Rica School of Public Health and a former Costa Rican health minister; Alfonso Petersen, vice dean of Health Sciences Universidad of Guadalajara; Lizbeth Lopez, a researcher with the Mexican National Institute for Public Health; Hector Valle, executive president of the Mexican Health Foundation; Kenji Lopez, president of Mexican Cancer Warriors; Alejandra De Cima, president of the Cima Foundation and member of the Mexican Breast Cancer Coalition; and Hector Arreola Ornelas, executive director of the Tomatelo a Pecho, an organization founded by Knaul.

Chertorivski echoed Frenk’s concerns for the new health care reforms and said it was critical to look to the future.