PrOFILE Assessments
To assess the current situation of the participating hospitals, as well
as identify strengths and opportunities at the national level, the
abbreviated version of the St. Jude Pediatric Oncology Facility
Integrated Local Evaluation (PrOFILE) self-assessment tool was
implemented in seven hospitals where pediatric oncology services are
offered in Kenya. These hospitals were identified by Gertrude Children’s
Hospital and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and as estimated by
GLOBOCAN 2018, have an average of number of 6,000 new patients per year.
PrOFILE provides a snapshot of the pediatric hematology and oncology
landscape and care continuum at both country and facility levels over
the following 12 modules: national context, facility and local context,
finances and resources, personnel, service capacity, service
integration, diagnostics, chemotherapy, supportive care, surgery,
radiation therapy and patients and outcomes. These modules are grouped
into five specific components, including Context, Workforce,
Diagnostics, Therapy, and Patients & Outcomes. One outcome of the tool
is a comprehensive list of strengths and opportunities, as well as
suggested collaborators and St. Jude support packages corresponding to
each of them.
Foundational pre-work included an introductory online meeting with
Kenyan NCI officials, Gertrude Children’s Hospital in Nairobi, an
American twinning partner to University of Nairobi, and the St. Jude
PrOFILE and Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Teams. During the meeting, St.
Jude presented the PrOFILE tool, its methodology, and previous
experiences using the tool. Within Kenya, this initiative was
coordinated by representatives from Gertrude Children’s Hospital, NCI
and WHO.