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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.
"Too many children have their lives cut short by cancer, and survival rates in poor countries are scandalously lower than those in wealthy countries."
- Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO
Through collaboration and creativity, the extraordinary can be achieved and the most ambitious dreams realized. Working together, we will define the path to discovery and translate findings into cures for children around the globe."
- James R. Downing, M.D., St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, President and Chief Executive Officer
We're working hard to achieve our goal of increasing the survival rate of children with cancer globally to at least 60% by 2030
The CureAll Framework provides countries engaging with the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancers with a menu of core projects to support childhood cancer programme development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer CureAll Country Showcase
In December 2022, St. Jude Global Health Systems Unit and WHO Cancer team convened a CureAll Country Showcase virtually with representatives of 38 countries along with WHO Headquarters, Regional Offices and St. Jude Global teams. Over 140 participants exchanged insights, shared challenges and highlighted achievements made through the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. In his latest blog post, Dr. Rodriguez-Galindo, Director at St. Jude Global, shares highlights from the event.
REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Accra hospital helping children beat cancer
Implementing Pillar 1: Centres of Excellence and Care networks to increase to increase access to quality Health Services in Ghana.
Cancer control legislation in the Philippines
Universal Health Coverage and integration of childhood Cancer-Cancer Control Legislation in the Philippines drives efforts for childhood cancer.
Reducing rates of cancer treatment abandonment in Peru
Monitoring activities for children and adolescents at risk of abandoning treatment through the use of an application called IMPACT in Peru.
Strengthening management of childhood cancer in Zimbabwe
Formulation of National Cancer Control Policies and advancing toward prioritisation of Childhood Cancer in Zimbabwe and Morocco.
COUNTRY CHAMPIONS
“In Panama, approximately, 90% of childhood cancer patients come to us with advanced stage cancer — so survivorship is very low. Therefore, to promote early detection and timely diagnosis, we developed a guide that enables health care providers, particularly primary health care workers, to understand the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer and follow a streamlined referral process. Through the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancers, we have been training healthcare providers across the country to use this guide for early detection and timely diagnosis. As a result of these efforts, we’ve already started to see more patients with stage-I and II cancer. Recently, we had a paediatrician who referred a one-year-old child to us for cancer treatment. The paediatrician had attended our workshop on early detection of childhood cancers and recognised the signs of retinoblastoma. Because it was an early stage detection, we were able to successfully treat the infant and save his eye.”
“When we manage a child with cancer, a lot of people are involved and they all need to be on the same page. Our existing nursing curriculum in Nepal doesn’t address emerging patient needs in cancer care — and doesn’t cover all the core skills needed to provide care for a child with cancer. Therefore, under the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancers (GICC), our focus has been on training nurses who spend more time with the patient and family members. It is very important that nurses know the challenges involved in cancer treatment and are trained to support families through this difficult time. I remember one of my engineering colleagues came to me because his child had been diagnosed with cancer, both he and his wife were in tears. And when the treatment started, both parents were counseled well by our trained nurses. They were so satisfied with the great service that they received from our trained nurses and they always remember this. A child, regardless of where he/she comes from in the world, deserves quality care and treatment when they suffer from cancer.”
