UNHCR [to 31 May 2014]
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/hom

Refugee cancer patients go untreated for lack of funds, warns the UN Refugee Agency
Press Releases, 26 May 2014
Excerpt
The number of refugees with cancer is overwhelming health systems in Jordan and Syria, the UN Refugee Agency’s top medical expert has warned, forcing UNHCR offices and partners to make agonising decisions over who does and doesn’t receive care.
In a new study published today (Sunday 25 May) in The Lancet Oncology, Dr Paul Spiegel documented hundreds of refugees in Jordan and Syria denied cancer treatment due to limited funds, and called for urgent new steps to tackle cancer in humanitarian crises.
“We can treat everyone with measles, but we can’t treat everyone with cancer,” says Dr Spiegel. “We have to turn away cancer patients with poor prognoses because caring for them is too expensive. After losing everything at home, cancer patients face even greater suffering abroad – often at a huge emotional and financial cost to their families.”
The Lancet Oncology study – which looked at refugees in Jordan and Syria from 2009-2012 – says the number of documented refugee cancer cases in the region have risen because there are more refugees overall, and because more people are fleeing middle income countries like Syria. Cancer is also a growing issue amongst refugees from low-income countries, where the focus had traditionally been on infectious diseases and malnutrition…