Pretoria - Even though South Africa has gradually increased the survival rates of childhood cancers to 55%, statistics have revealed that countries may be missing some children and teens who were either never diagnosed, misdiagnosed or unreported.
With September marking the commemoration of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the spotlight has once more turned to reducing child mortality rates and highlight the global burden of childhood cancers.
Under the theme “Better survival is achievable #throughyourhands”, the call has been made for governments, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector to work together to achieve at least 60% survival in low to middle-income countries to reduce the suffering of all children with cancer worldwide by 2030.
Recent statistics have shown that globally, childhood and adolescent cancer was threatening to overtake infectious diseases, as one of the highest causes of disease-related mortality in children.
In spite of being relatively rare, in high-income countries childhood cancer has been reported as the second-most common cause of death in children aged 5 to 14, after accidents.
In Africa, it does not make it into the top 10 common causes.
According to medical officer responsible for non-communicable diseases at the World Health Organization in South Africa, Dr Kibachio Joseph Mwangi, unlike in adults where screening has had a huge impact on early cancer diagnosis treatment and outcome, awareness of childhood cancer, symptoms by families and primary care providers, accurate and timely clinical evaluation as well as accurate diagnosis, staging and access to prompt treatment would go a long way to improve the survival rate in children with cancer.
Mwangi said that the early detection of childhood cancer afforded early diagnosis and enabled a better chance of being cured.
It also contributed to an increase in the survival rate.
“Early diagnosis and availability of basic childhood cancer drugs will enable us to meet the WHO 2030 goal of an overall survival of 60% in low to middle-income countries, because the reality is that childhood cancer can be cured,” said Professor Gita Naidu, chairperson of the South African Children’s Cancer Study Group.
“You have the power to make a change, no matter who you are, let’s be a voice for our children and teenagers this International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
“Our children deserve to live a full life, and we have the power to give them the chance to do so,” added Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa chief executive Hedley Lewis.
As it stands, in spite of South Africa gradually increasing the survival rate over the past few years, it has been reported that this improvement was still well below the rate of developed countries of 80% to 90%.
A key factor singled out has been the lack of knowledge about the early warning signs of childhood cancer which were accessible on various platforms.
Members of the public have been urged to be the change for those going through the childhood cancer journey and for those who have been newly diagnosed.
Pretoria News