St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States has committed 200 million dollars over six years to finance treatment of childhood cancer.
In September 2018, World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer,
enabled by a contribution of 15 million dollars from St. Jude Hospital.
The initiative aims to achieve survival rate of at least 60 per cent in low- and middle-income countries by 2030,
focusing on six cancers that are highly curable and represent more than half of childhood cancers.
WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, while thanking the hospital, said so far, six countries had been engaged,
and purchase orders were being prepared to deliver products within the next six months.
“We aim to reach 120 thousand children by 2027,’’ he said at his weekly press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday.
According to him, only a quarter of low-income countries cover childhood cancer medicines.
He added that “this subjects children and families to significant suffering and financial hardship, or puts them at risk of receiving
substandard and falsified medicines.
“As a result, survival of children in these countries is less than 30 percent, compared with more than 90 per cent for children in high income countries.”
To help address the problem, WHO, supported by the U.S.-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a non-profit pediatric treatment and
research facility focusing on leukemia and other cancers, launched the Global initiative for Childhood Cancer in 2018.
“The goal is to provide universal, sustained access to quality-assured, essential cancer medicine for children outside developed economies
free of charge.”
Meanwhile, WHO announced that cancer medicines are among those that have been added to the latest version of the organisation’s Essential
Medicines List and the Essential Medicines List for Children, published on July 27 (today).
Ghebreyesus explained that the new list includes important new medicines for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, infectious diseases and cardiovascular conditions.
These treatments could have a very large public health impact globally, without jeopardizing the health budgets of low and middle-income countries,” he said.
For over 40 years, countries all over the world have relied on the List as a definitive, evidence-based guide to the most important medicines for delivering the biggest health impact.
Temperatures remain high across the northern hemisphere, threatening human health and wellbeing, amid estimates that over 61,000 people died from heat related causes in Europe last month.
According to WHO, heat stress, defined as the inability of the human body to cool itself, can trigger exhaustion or heat stroke and exacerbate conditions such as cardiovascular, respiratory and kidney diseases, as well as mental health problems.
“We are concerned about the impact of extreme weather on the health of people who are displaced or living in conflict-affected or vulnerable settings, where there is limited or no access to safe water and sanitation, lack of cooling and shortage of medical supplies,” Ghebreyesus said.
He called on governments to put in place early-warning and response systems, strategies for the general population and vulnerable groups, and effective communication plans, while also underlining the urgent need to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and “protect the planet on which all life depends.” (NAN)(
