Abstract

Extensive research is steered to investigate risk factors for cancer in the literature. However, these studies have predominantly carried out in high income country settings. Disease-specific data and empirical studies on cancer in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are scanty and is virtually non-existent in the Maldives. This aim of the proposed study is to investigate cancer in the Maldives from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, using both patient-centred and administrative viewpoints. The proposed work will be the first study of its kind to investigate incidence, prevalence, survival rates and Maldives-specific risk factors for oral and breast cancer — the two most common cancers in the Maldives. This study will allow for development of more effective strategies for prevention and control of the diseases by gaining a thorough understanding of sociodemographic and behavioural risk factors as well as the level of knowledge about cancer among the people. It is further expected to provide an evidence base for health inclusion in government policies in all the sectors and inform institutional debate in national and regional domains which may lead to more effective approaches in public health in the Maldives and other SIDS. This study has incorporated the concepts from three distinct behavioural theories namely the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the Health Belief Model and the Social Cognitive Theory to support the methods used for conducting this study. These studies will be conducted in the main hospitals of the Maldives.

About Aminath

Aminath Adheela is a PhD candidate at the Department of National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health. She has worked as a registered nurse for seven and
half years in the main tertiary hospital of the Maldives after completing her degree in Nursing. She studied completed a Master of Public Health from Curtin University in Perth funded by an AUSAID scholarship. Returning to the Maldives, she joined the National Health Insurance Company, Aasandha, and worked there for one and half years before joining the National University of Maldives as a lecturer. In 2018 she received a PhD scholarship from the ANU to study cancer prevalence and its etiology in the Maldives using statistics from Aasandha and various other hospitals in the Maldives and nearby countries where Maldivians receive cancer treatments.