Most childhood cancers are curable. We know this because survival rates in the UK and Europe regularly top 80%. But for children in low and middle-income countries, the prognosis is bleak. With their chance of survival falling as low as 10%, every three minutes a young life is lost to childhood cancer.
The solution? It already exists. The challenge is making sure that every child gets the diagnosis, treatment and care they need. In too many countries, public and professional awareness of childhood cancer is dangerously low. Opportunities for early diagnosis are missed. Referrals are delayed. And there are not enough health workers with the specialist skills to diagnose and treat the disease.
It is children and families that pay the price.
Determined to balance this inequality, World Child Cancer works with local, regional, and international partners in some of the world’s poorest countries to improve:
- Access to treatment
- Early diagnosis
- Family support
- Advocacy
playing hide-and-seek with his sister and four brothers. Sangwani goes to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi twice a month to receive chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Sangwani’s mother sells vegetables to support her children but cannot work when Sangwani is feeling unwell or when the family must travel to attend medical appointments. While doctors are confident that Sangwani will make a full recovery, missing out on wages for a few days of work each month has greatly impacted the family’s financial stability and they have struggled to cover expenses.
Your support will help families like Sangwani’s pay for treatment and reimburse travel costs to and from hospitals, ensuring that children with cancer are able to get the continued care they need despite their financial situations and where they live.
Thank you for taking the time to find out more about our work. There is a lot to do, and we cannot do this without the support of people like you.
Will you join us?
Together we can close the gap in childhood cancer care.