CHICAGO: Only 20 percent of children growing in poor countries survive a battle with cancer, despite progress made in recent decades in the fight against the disease in the industrialized world, scientists said. By contrast, as many as 80 percent of children survive a bout of cancer in developed nations. The disparities in pediatric cancer rates between developed and developing countries are unacceptable and unnecessary, Raul Ribeiro, who leads an international program called My Child Matters at Saint Jude Children s research hospital and member of the program s steering committee, said Sunday. The program was created by the International Union Against Cancer, a nongovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland and dedicated to fighting cancer around the world. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis and the US National Cancer Institute are also helping in the effort. Doctor Ribeiro studied the impact of 14 projects that are part of this program and presented his findings to the 43rd annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology under way in Chicago. He said that all the goals set by the program had been attained in 10 chosen countries, which included Bangladesh, Egypt, Morocco, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam. The program analysis showed that after one year, many of the projects short-term goals were met, including improved patient care infrastructure, public and professional education, earlier detection, improved access to care, introduction of psychological support, decreased abandonment of treatment and better follow-up, Ribeiro told a news conference. Our program is showing that with tiny investments we can make a big difference in the lives of children with cancer, even in the most impoverished settings, he continued. The project addresses specific needs in each of the countries, focusing particularly on the lack of follow-up treatments, palliative care, poor knowledge of the first symptoms and access to diagnostic equipment and techniques. Cancer among children, while rare, is widely curable because tumors react to early and effective treatment, which remains largely affordable. Nevertheless, more than 160,000 children are diagnosed with cancer every year around the world, with about 90,000 of them eventually dying from the disease, according to cancer specialists. While before the 1960s, cancer among children was almost always fatal, today 70 percent to 80 percent of patients survive it in the United States as in Europe. This progress is widely due to improvements in the treatment and quality of the care. Chemotherapy that was first introduced to treat child leukemia in the 1940s, is now used to treat other forms of pediatric cancer, along with surgery and radiology. Leukemia remains the most widespread form of pediatric cancer in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It is followed by tumors of the central nervous system and lymphomas.
