WHO Kicks Off Global Project On Childhood Cancer

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has kicked off a new Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.

The initiative aimed at reaching at least a 60 percent survival rate for children with cancer by 2030, was unveiled on Wednesday as the global health body stated that about $15 million has been donated by the global agency to better foster the initiative which will save an additional one million lives.

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“To increase prioritisation of childhood cancer through awareness raising at global and national levels and to expand the capacity of countries to deliver best practice in childhood cancer care,” a report on WHO’s official website stated.

“Concretely, WHO will support governments to assess current capacities in cancer diagnosis and treatment including the availability of medicines and technologies; Set and cost priority cancer diagnosis and treatment programme; and integrate childhood cancer into national strategies, health benefits packages and social insurance schemes.”

The report further stated that the initiative will succeed based on support from a host of partners through the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.

“Among them is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States, the first WHO Collaborating Centre on childhood cancer, which has committed US$15,000,000 to support the implementation of the initiative.”

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Cancer is a leading cause of death for children, with 300,000 new cases diagnosed each year among children aged 0-19 years.

According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 15,270 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 were diagnosed with cancer and 1,790 died of the disease in 2017.

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