Building partnership in oral cancer research in a developing country: processes and barriers.
BACKGROUND
The rising burden of cancer in the developing world calls for a re-evaluation of the treatment strategies employed to improve patient management, early detection and understanding of the disease. There is thus an increasing demand for interdisciplinary research that integrates two or more disciplines of what may seemed to be highly unrelated and yet very much needed as strategies for success in research. This paper presents the processes and barriers faced in building partnerships in oral cancer research in a developing country.


METHODS
A case study was undertaken in a developing country (Malaysia) to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the situation leading to the formation of a multidisciplinary research partnership in oral cancer. Following the formalization of the partnership, further evaluation was undertaken to identify measures that can assist in sustaining the partnership.


RESULTS
The group identifies its strength as the existence of academia, research-intensive NGOs and good networking of clinicians via the existence of the government's network of healthcare provider system who are the policy makers. The major weaknesses identified are the competing interest between academia and NGOs to justify their existence due to the lack of funding sources and well trained human resources.


CONCLUSIONS
With the growing partnership, the collaborative group recognizes the need to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for the sharing and usage of resources in order to safeguard the interest of the original partners while also attending to the needs of the new partners.
Zain
Rosnah Binti
RB
Oral Cancer Research and Coordinating Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. rosnahmz@um.edu.my
Ghani
Wan Maria Nabillah
WM
Razak
Ishak Abdul
IA
Latifah
Raja Jallaludin Raja
RJ
Samsuddin
Abdul Rani
AR
Cheong
Sok Ching
SC
Abdullah
Norlida
N
Ismail
Abdul Rashid
AR
Hussaini
Haizal Bin
HB
Talib
Norain Abu
NA
Jallaludin
Amin
A
D035843:Biomedical Research; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy