As the world celebrates the International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD), health experts have advised parents to have their children checked by a doctor if they show unusual signs or symptoms that do not go away.
Dr Ozy Okonokhua , a board member of Okapi Children Cancer Foundation, in an interview with THE WHISTLER on Monday disclosed that treatment for cancer usually takes a long period of time and has high incidence of remission even after recovery
Most Common Cancer In Children
Advertisement
Leukemia: cancer of the blood, brain and spinal cord tumors.
Lymphoma: a type of cancer arising in lymph nodes, and Retinoblastoma, cancer of the retina of the eye.
Why high incidence of remission?
The doctor shared that late diagnosis leads to high incidence of remission as it allows the cancer time to spread.
Ozy added that abandonment of treatment and poor follow up due to financial challenges or other extraneous factors can also lead to high rate of the incidence.
How Parents Can Detect Cancer In children
The doctor advised parents to have their children checked by a doctor if they have unusual signs or symptoms that do not go away, such as:
- White spot in the eye
- Unexplained fever and fatigue
- Aching bones or joints
- Lumps, especially in the stomach
- Change in gait or walking, balance or speech
Type of Treatment For Child Cancer
The medical expert said though there are many types of cancer treatment, the type administered to a child will depend on the type of cancer and the current state.
“Common treatments include: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplant, “he said.
Statistics from the World Health Organisation(WHO) has it that cancer is a leading cause of death for children and adolescents worldwide and that globally, 160,000 new cases of cancer and 90,000 deaths are recorded annually for children under the age of 15.
The organization also records that an estimated 30,000 children are diagnosed with cancer yearly, adding that 80 per cent of them live in low and middle-income countries like Nigeria.
The Okapi Children Foundation was founded by Kemi Adekanye to promote cancer awareness and treatment, among other things.