International Childhood Cancer Day 2021

Every February 15, the global childhood cancer community celebrates International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD), in a collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families.


Childhood cancer in the Region of the Americas and in the world

Cancer is a leading cause of death for children and adolescents around the world. Each year more than 400,000 children are diagnosed with cancer globally. In the Region of the Americas, there were an estimated 32,065 new cancer cases in 2020 in children 0 to 14 years old; of them, 20,855 cases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is estimated that Cancer was the cause of death of 8,544 children under 15 years old in 2020; of them, 7,076 in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The vast majority of the children with cancer live in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), where they face unacceptable inequities in early detection, diagnosis, and access to quality treatment and palliative care. The inferior outcomes suffered by children in LMIC are a threat to social cohesion, economic prosperity and achievement of global targets included in the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC)

THE GOAL OF THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE IS TO ACHIEVE AT LEAST A 60% SURVIVAL AND TO REDUCE SUFFERING FOR ALL CHILDREN WITH CANCER BY 2030

In September 2018, WHO launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC), with the objective of addressing these profound inequities, The target is to achieve at least 60% survival for children with cancer by 2030 and to reduce suffering for all.

To save lives and reduce suffering of children with cancer, this initiative seeks to

  • increase countries’ capacity to provide quality services for children with cancer
  • prioritize childhood cancer nationally, regionally and globally to spark action

A technical package, CureAll, will guide the countries as they carry out the Global Initiative. CureAll is planned to be launched on the International Childhood Cancer Day, on 15 February, 2021. 

covers

Who Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer: an Ovierview

Cover of the booklet of the WHO Childhood Cancer Initiative

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer aims to improve outcomes for children with cancer around the world. The goal is to give all children with cancer the best chance to survive, to live full and abundant lives and to live and die without suffering. Working across borders, sectors and disciplines, we can create a better future for children with cancer.

Download the booklet

Cover of the booklet CureAll framework

A suite of tools to help countries improve diagnosis and treatment of cancer among children was released by the World Health Organization, on International Childhood Cancer Day. The package includes a “how-to” guide for policy-makers, cancer control programme managers and hospital managers; an assessment tool to inform implementation; and a multilingual online portal for information-sharing.

Download the booklet    

WHO Knowledge Action Portal

The St Jude´s Global COVID-19 Observatory and Resource Center for Childhood Cancer is for health care professionals focused on pediatric cancer. The resource provides a way for providers to collaborate, connect and find the latest information on COVID-19 as it relates to childhood cancer.  

Health care professionals can access a collection of current resources and a pediatric cancer registry with real-time results. 

 


Activities:

LIVE CONVERSATION: CHILDHOOD CANCER CARE DURING THE PANDEMIC

  • Tuesday, 16 February, 2021
  • 11:00 am EST
  • Via: Facebook: @PAHOWHO  & Twitter: @opsoms
  •  In Spanish

Click on the image for more details

Tarjeta en fondo amarillo con letras azules y blancas, anunciando el evento en vivo sobre cáncer infantil, el 16 de febrero. En el ecentro, Ilustrado con un osito de peluche, un estetoscopio y un lazo amarillo. Logos de Facebook y Twitter con el icono de un micrófono en la esquina superior derecha

 

 

Cover of Early Diagnosis of Childhood Cancer

Early diagnosis: 

In recent years, very important advances have been made in the treatment of childhood cancer, achieving an increase in patient survival rates. But given the complexity of current therapeutic procedures, children with cancer should be referred as early as possible to centers that have specialized human and technical resources, and where they are treated by personnel trained in pediatric onco-hematology. Therefore, it is key that parents and healthcare personnel know the first signs and symptoms and are attentive to act upon their appearance. 

Early Diagnosis of Childhood Cancer helps primary care providers to identify the early signs of cancer.

Download the guide

 

 

Videos

The following videos show some of the early signs and symptoms of childhood cancer, to help parents and child caregivers seek for care if they appear. (Available only in Spanish)

 

 International Childhood Cancer Day prorduce by the Latin American Society of Pediatric Oncology

 

Stories

News

Photo of a young girl with her face painted and seated next to a giant stuffed rabitt

WHO launches new tools to help countries build effective childhood cancer programmes
15 February 2021 | Geneva (WHO) - A suite of tools to help countries improve diagnosis and treatment of cancer among children is being released today by the World Health Organization, on International Childhood Cancer Day. The package includes a “how-to” guide for policy-makers, cancer control programme managers and hospital managers; an assessment tool to inform implementation; and a multilingual online portal for information-sharing.

The new tools will support countries with implementation of the CureAll approach, adopted by WHO’s Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. The Initiative, launched in 2018, aims to achieve at least 60% survival for childhood cancer globally by 2030. Currently, children living in high-income countries have an 80% chance of cure, while less than 30% of children diagnosed with cancer in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) survive.

During the last two years, the Global Initiative, supported by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a WHO Collaborating Centre in the United States of America, has become active in more than 30 countries and benefits from the participation of more than 120 global partners. These partners work together to support governments with the implementation of the CureAll approach, addressing common reasons for the low survival of children with cancer in LMICs. These reasons include late or incorrect diagnosis, insufficient diagnostic capacity, delays in or inaccessible treatment and treatment abandonment.

Photo of a group of healthcare workers with masks and protective hats, surrounding a cancer patient, a bald child  of about 6 years old, in a hospitla environment

The validation workshop of the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Cancer held in the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, January 27, 2021 (PAHO/WHO) - The main stakeholders involved in the detection, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, and comprehensive support of children and adolescents with cancer in the country participated in the validation of the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Cancer (PENCI-RD, for its abbreviation in Spanish).

A technical committee developed this National Plan made up of representatives of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the National Health Service (SNS, for its abbreviation in Spanish), experts from the area of pediatric onco-hematology in the country and by the Fundación Amigos Contra el Cáncer Infantil (FACCI).

The main objective of the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Cancer is to detect and intervene in a timely manner the morbidity and mortality of childhood cancer through knowledge of the signs and symptoms of suspected cancer in children and adolescents in the Dominican Republic, thus positively impacting the quality life of patients and their families in the face of this terrible disease.

Since 2017, the technical committee has been creating and developing the proposal for this National Plan, an effort that is part of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and the 20-30 agreement signed between the WHO and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on September 18, 2018, which aims to transform cancer care globally to cure at least 60% of children with six of the most common cancers by 2030.