GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new platform to provide free-of-cost medicines to thousands of children in low-and middle-income countries where childhood cancer survival rates are often below 30 percent.
“St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has commenced distribution of critically-needed childhood cancer medicines in 2 of 6 pilot countries, through the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
Currently, these medicines are being delivered to Mongolia and Uzbekistan, with the next shipments planned for Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal, and Zambia, the WHO said.
It added the treatments are expected to reach approximately 5000 children with cancer across at least 30 hospitals in these countries within this year.
The WHO said the countries in the pilot phase will receive an uninterrupted supply of quality-assured childhood cancer medicines at no cost.
“Childhood cancer survival rates in low- and middle-income countries were often below 30 percent, compared with around 80 percent in high-income countries,” the UN health agency said.
“For too long, children with cancer have lacked access to life-saving medicines,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The platform will bring “health and hope to children around the world”, he added. El Salvador, Moldova, Senegal, Ghana, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are expected to join very soon.
The platform hopes to reach 50 countries in the next five to seven years, providing medicines for approximately 120,000 children.
International movement
Every year, an estimated 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer, the majority of these children, living in resource-limited settings, the WHO said.
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“It is estimated that 70 percent of the children from these settings die from cancer due to factors such as lack of appropriate treatment, treatment disruptions, or low-quality medicines,” it said.
“A child’s chances of surviving cancer are largely determined by where they are born, making this one of the starkest disparities in global healthcare,” said James R. Downing, MD, president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
St. Jude and WHO announced the platform in 2021 to ensure children around the world have access to lifesaving treatments. The platform brings together governments, the pharmaceutical industry, and non-governmental organisations in a unique collaborative model focused on creating solutions for children with cancer.
