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The World Health Organization on Tuesday launched a new platform providing cost-free cancer medicines for thousands of children living in low- and middle-income countries in a bid to improve lagging survival rates.
The WHO further stated that the first medicines were being delivered to Mongolia and Uzbekistan, with further shipments planned for Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal, and Zambia as part of the project’s pilot phase, with treatments expected to reach around 5,000 children with cancer this year across at least 30 hospitals in those six nations.
The WHO also disclosed that childhood cancer survival rates in low- and middle-income countries were often below 30 percent, compared with around 80 percent in high-income countries.
According to the statement, an additional six countries have been invited to join the platform, which hopes to reach 50 countries in the next five to seven years, providing medicines for approximately 120,000 children.
The WHO estimated that about 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer every year, most of them living in resource-limited settings, noting that cost-free provision would continue beyond the pilot phase, and the platform is working on developing its sustainability over the longer term.
