Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer: Latest updates
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In 2018, WHO launched, with the support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer, to provide leadership and technical assistance to governments to support them in building and sustaining high-quality childhood cancer programmes. GICC aims to increase the survival rate of children with cancer globally to at least 60% by 2030.
WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer - CureAll Country Showcase on the Road to 2030
On the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Day 2024, WHO convened representatives from GICC-engaged countries, official partners, and people affected by cancer in a stock-take session highlighting ongoing efforts to advance the prioritization of childhood cancer into national policies and programmes, and improve access to quality services for children with cancer across the six WHO regions.
The webinar was aimed at representatives from Ministries of Health of GICC-engaged countries, people with lived experience (children, adolescents with cancer, childhood cancer survivors, families, and caregivers), GICC strategic partners, including civil society groups, professional associations, advocacy groups, and NCD/Cancer focal points from WHO regional and country offices supporting CureAll Implementation. 160+ gathered to celebrate the special day.
View the webinar below, passcode: &48y?wk5
CureAll Country Showcase Poster Competition: Second Edition
Leading up to International Childhood Cancer Day on February 15, 2024, St. Jude Global worked with WHO to host the 2nd Global CureAll Poster Showcase. The CureAll Poster Showcase enabled participating countries to report insights and updates on respective activities as part of the GICC.
“As the WHO Collaborating Centre for Childhood Cancer, St. Jude has a unique role in helping implement the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer with WHO and other organizations and global agencies. We do this to achieve our dream for every child, everywhere, no matter where that child is,” said Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, MD, St. Jude executive vice president and director of St. Jude Global, in opening his remarks during the ICCD event.
Nineteen countries representing six WHO regions contributed eligible posters to the 2024 showcase, highlighting the great work happening in their respective countries and giving collaboration ideas to others.
WHO marks International Childhood Cancer Day
This year, on International Childhood Cancer Day, WHO highlighted the impact of childhood cancer and how, with access to high-quality and timely services, the majority of childhood cancers can be cured. Early diagnosis equals better treatment outcomes, less suffering, and more cost-effective measures. Visual assets were developed and shared across WHO channels to convey this message.
Regional Updates
Uzbekistan’s first children’s hospice, 1 year on
Located in the Tashkent region, the children’s hospice Taskin (“Solace” in Uzbek) represents a significant milestone in the development of vital children’s palliative care services in Uzbekistan. Knowledge and understanding of children’s palliative care are limited among health-care professionals and the public, and Dr Rustambek Norbaev, Chief Physician at Taskin, hopes to help change that.
More than 7500 children with cancer receive improved care through South-East Asia Regional Childhood Cancer Network institutions
About 61,000 new cases of childhood cancers are diagnosed and 45% of them succumb to the disease every year in the WHO South-East Asia Region. Estimates show that about half of the total new cases remain undiagnosed in the region. High income countries have achieved an overall cure rate of upto 90 percent in childhood cancer. To reduce this gap, WHO launched the global initiative for childhood cancer with the aim of achieving a global survival rate of 60% by 2030
Interview with Ms Julie Ling, Consultant Technical Advisor on Palliative Care, WHO European Regional Office
Palliative care is an essential component of universal health coverage and should be available across the lifespan (1) including for children with cancer. Palliative care for children is an emerging specialty. According to the EAPC Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe (2019) (2) of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region, only twenty have specialists in palliative care for children. The atlas also clearly illustrates an East-West divide on the development of palliative care service provision, with those in the East of the region being much less likely to be able to access services.
The Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer aims to give children the best chance to survive to live full and abundant lives and to live and die without suffering. Palliative care is the active total care of the child physically, psychosocially and spiritually. It should ideally begin at the time of diagnosis and be provided alongside treatments aimed at treating their disease (3). Palliative care is best provided by a multidisciplinary team, it should ideally be available in the location of choice for the child and family and is best provided by those who have been educated and trained in the care of children.
It is important that there is access to essential medicines for palliative care including access to strong opioids (4).
WHO Infographic: Palliative Care and Opioids
IARC Infographic: Incidence of Childhood Cancer types by Age group
The term “childhood cancer” refers to a wide range of cancer types that develop mainly in people younger than 20 years. These cancer types are different from the cancers that are most often detected in adults. Leukaemias, lymphomas, and central nervous system tumours are the most common cancer types in children. The proportion of different cancer types changes with each year of age as children get older, and the overall incidence shows two separate peaks, at ages 0–4 years and 15–19 years.
CUREALL BITMAP
RESOURCES
GICC:
1.GICC Framework: https://www.who.int/initiatives/the-global-initiative-for-childhood-cancer
2.Factsheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer-in-children
3.Knowledge Action Portal on NCDs: https://www.knowledge-action-portal.com/
On Palliative Care:
1.Guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children. December 2020. Available here
2. WHO Guidelines for the pharmacological and radiotherapeutic management of cancer
pain in adults and adolescents. January 2019. Available here.
3. Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into paediatrics. A WHO guide for health
care planners, implementers and managers. August 2018. Available here.
4. Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into the response to humanitarian
emergencies and crises. February 2018. Available here.
5. Integrating palliative care and symptom relief into primary health care. A WHO guide for
planners, implementers and managers. October 2016. Available here.
6. Planning and implementing palliative care services: a guide for programme managers.
February 2016. Available here.
