# The impact of economic sanctions on cancer diagnosis and treatment in Iran: a qualitative study

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-sanctions-cancer-care-iran-haghjou-2024/  
OnCo record `paper-sanctions-cancer-care-iran-haghjou-2024` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Interviews with 53 Iranian cancer specialists describe how economic sanctions led to shortages, lower-quality imported materials, higher prices, lost staff and delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

## Summary

In-depth qualitative interviews with 53 experts, including clinical and basic science specialists chosen by purposeful sampling, analysed by content analysis in MAXQDA 2020. The 900 codes were grouped into input, process and output categories with 13 subcategories.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Journal: International Journal for Equity in Health
- Year: 2024
- DOI: 10.1186/s12939-024-02335-9
- Authors: Haghjou L, Mounesan L, Shamsi A, et al.
- Findings: Inputs: instability in financing and regulations, shortages of materials, low-quality imported materials, high material prices and loss of human resources.; Process: delayed and inadequate care, non-adherence to guidelines, limited international collaboration and reduced provider satisfaction.; Outputs: lower effectiveness, more adverse events and wider equity gaps.
- What it means: Sanctions on Iran exempt medicines and food in principle, but these clinicians report that cancer patients still meet shortages, substitutions and delays, which is the practical context for Iran's push to make cancer medicines itself.
- Caveats: Qualitative expert views, not measured outcomes; no counts of patients affected.; Experts were chosen by purposeful sampling.

## Sources

- Int J Equity Health 2024: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-024-02335-9
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39616398/

## Connected records

- technologies: [Global oncology and access in low- and middle-income countries](https://onco.cc/technologies/global-oncology-access/)
- institutions: [Cancer Institute of Iran, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex](https://onco.cc/institutions/tehran-cancer-institute/), [Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA)](https://onco.cc/institutions/iran-fda/)
- bottlenecks: [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-sanctions-cancer-care-iran-haghjou-2024.json