About 400,000 children receive a cancer diagnosis each year and most of them live in low -income countries where drugs are unavailable or unavailable, resulting in an overwhelming mortality rate of 70%.
In high -income countries, more than eight in 10 children diagnosed survive.
“”The platform is now defined to fill this gap“Said Dr. Andre Olbawi, technical manager of the WHO cancer control program.
The objective of the United Nations Agency – Working with the Children’s Research Hospital of the leading American pediatric establishment, is to reach 50 countries where the needs are the largest, providing drugs to treat 120 000 children with cancer in the next five to seven years. Although this is an ambitious objective, it is achievable, said Dr. Ilbawi to journalists in Geneva.
“”This marks the start of a global movement to provide children with cancer the drugs they needIt doesn’t matter where they live or their ability to pay, “he insisted on the global platform to access infant cancer drugs.
Major funding boost
The launch of the platform was made possible by an investment of $ 200 million by St. Jude – marking the greatest financial commitment ever made for infant cancer in the world.
The initiative is also based on the experience of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Pan American Health Organization Strategic Fund, which obtains and distributes drugs. “”This innovation has now become a headlight of hope necessary for families around the world“Said Dr. Ilbawi.
The platform is not a donation program, but rather a joint venture involving governments, the pharmaceutical industry, non-governmental organizations and local stakeholders such as hospitals.
Complex and difficult
The four remaining countries of the pilot phase which will soon receive drugs against cancer are equator, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia. In a few days, Salvador, Moldova, Senegal, Pakistan, Ghana and Sri Lanka will also join the program.
The needs of a child suffering from cancer are complex and demanding, ranging from qualified professionals to pharmaceutical companies and communities that are ready to support a family thanks to the traumatic diagnostic process, which explained.
But with the launch of this platform, you have hopes to set it up. “The vision of giving each child a chance to fight cancer – no matter where he was born, now becomes a reality,” said Dr. Ilbawi.
