Today, Dr Clemence Schantz, a sociologist from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in Paris, came to talk at the Department for Global Health & Social Medicine, King’s College London, about her fascinating research project Senovie on Therapeutic Mobility and Breast Cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world. In many countries of the South, therapeutic resources are scarce, which leads some women to leave their country in search of care. Using a mixed biographical approach (both qualitative and quantitative), Clemence and her colleagues retrace the life paths of these women and seek to clarify what these therapeutic mobilities imply in terms of biographical experiences and ruptures. In order to have a global vision of these circulations, and to understand the reasons that lead some women to leave, they are conducting this research in France (Ile de France region) but also in West Africa (Mali, Benin) and South-East Asia (Cambodia). With the constant concern to co-construct our knowledge, and by involving researchers, health care providers and women’s associations, the research conducted by Clemence and her colleagues aims to contribute to the fight against social inequalities in health and to shed light on these cancers in West Africa and South-East Asia.
