Radiotherapy in the Caribbean: a spotlight on the human resource and equipment challenges among CARICOM nations

Table 7 Megavoltage machines per population size and proportion of nations with megavoltage machines and brachytherapy services based on economic index grouping

Country grouped by economic index¹	Population per country (thousands)²	No. of patients (GLOBOCAN data)	Total population (thousands)²	Total incident population	No. of megavoltage machines	Persons per megavoltage machines	Estimated patients requiring radiotherapy per megavoltage machine³	Proportion with at least one megavoltage machine	No. of countries with brachytherapy services	Proportion with brachytherapy services
High
Antigua and Barbuda	96	198*	2211	5853	7	315 838	460	80%	3	60%
The Bahamas	386	933
Barbados	287	1245
St. Kitts and Nevis	52	108*
Trinidad and Tobago	1390	3369
Upper middle
Belize	383	358	5148	10 480	8	643 512	721	38%	3	38%
Dominica	72	148*
Grenada	111	230*
Guyana	779	751
Jamaica	2935	7348
St. Lucia	182	376
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	110	227*
Suriname	576	1042
Low
Haiti	11 123	12 366	11 123	12 366	0	Not evaluable	Not evaluable	0%	0	0%

*Using average crude incidence ratio (new cases/population) of the nine CARICOM nations with known incidence data from GLOBOCAN = 0.00206 (95% CI = 0.000 82)
¹According to the World Bank Gross National Income data 2019 revision (Criteria ranges in US dollars: low = $1025 or less; upper middle = $3996 to $12 375; high = $12 376 or more) [11]
²Based on World Bank population data 2019 revision
³Using radiation utilization rate of 55% and GLOBOCAN data

ISSN: 1478-4491