About 400,000 children are diagnosed with cancer every year, and most of them live in low -income countries where medicine is either insurmountable or not available, results in an overwhelming death rate of 70 percent.
In high -income countries, more than eight out of 10 children survive.
“The platform is now set to close this hole“Said Dr. Other Ilbawi, Technical Manager of the WHO Cancer Control program.
The UN Agency’s goal – Working with leading American pediatric facility St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – is to reach 50 countries where the needs are greatest, providing medicine for the treatment of 120,000 children with cancer for the next five to seven years. Although it is an ambitious goal, it is achievable, Dr. Ilbawi journalists in Geneva.
“This marks the beginning of a global movement to give children with cancer the medicine they needWherever they live or their ability to pay, ”he insisted thanks to the global platform for access to cancer medicine for children.
Larger increase in funding
The launch of the platform has been made possible by a $ 200 million investment of St. Jude’s – which marks the greatest economic commitment ever made for cancer with cancer of children globally.
The initiative also draws on the experience of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Pan American Health Organization Strategic Fund, which provides and distributes the medicine. “This innovation has now become a necessary lighthouse of hope for families all over the world“Said Dr. Ilbawi.
The platform is not a donation program, but rather a joint venture involving governments, pharmaceutical industry, non-governmental organizations and local stakeholders as hospitals.
Complex and challenging
The remaining four countries in the pilot phase that will soon receive cancer medicine are Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia. Within a few days, El Salvador, Moldova, Senegal, Pakistan, Ghana and Sri Lanka will also participate in the program.
A child’s needs suffering from cancer are complex and demanding, ranging from qualified professionals to pharmaceutical businesses and communities ready to support a family through the traumatic diagnosis process that explained.
But with the launch of this platform, you hope to scale it up. “The vision of giving every child a chance to fight cancer – no matter where they are born, is now becoming a reality,” said Dr. Ilbawi.
