Childhood cancer control: pushing for progress in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region
11 March 2024 – Globally, more than 400 000 children and adolescents aged 0–19 years are diagnosed with cancer every year. Latest Global Cancer Observatory estimates for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region show that there were about 36 000 new cases of paediatric cancers and 16 500 deaths in 2022.
Experts from every country and territory of the Region, international partners, and WHO colleagues from headquarters and various regional offices came together last week to accelerate action to fight childhood cancer. The occasion was a 2-day workshop on “Empowering progress: strengthening implementation of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region”.
It is 5 years since WHO launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC), with the technical and financial support of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The workshop chiefly aimed to take stock of lessons learned, enrich understanding, and combine efforts to prioritize childhood cancer across the Region. By implementing the GICC, countries and territories can substantially contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4, to reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by one third by 2030.
Childhood cancer is adding to the growing disease burden among children worldwide, and actual numbers of cases and deaths are significantly higher than estimates. Unlike cancer in adulthood, the factors that contribute to childhood cancer are poorly understood, and only a small fraction