Davao doctors bat for knowledge of childhood cancer
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GOLD RIBBON. Marking the International Childhood Cancer Month, Dr. Cheryl Lyn Diez, a pediatric oncologist, shows a gold ribbon symbolizing the fight against the menace during a press briefing in Davao City on Monday (Sept. 4, 2023). The Mindanao Pediatric Cancer Care Network is currently treating 527 pediatric cancer cases. (PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.)
MindanaoHerald | Davao doctors bat for knowledge of childhood cancer | DAVAO CITY – A group of oncologists is trying to raise knowledge about childhood cancer so that all children who have it can get the care and treatment they need.
At a news conference on Monday, Dr. Mae Concepcion Dolendo, a paediatric oncologist, said that more than 80% of children with cancer in high-income countries can be cured.
Dolendo said that the mortality rate is currently 30% in low- and middle-income countries like the Philippines.
“There are many things that make it hard to get health care, like not knowing about or being aware of childhood cancer, not having enough specialist care and referral centres for paediatric cancer, being poor or having money problems, or living in a remote or poor area, like Mindanao,” she said.
Dolendo said that the Philippines is one of the first countries focused on by the World Health Organisation as part of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer, which was started in 2018 to improve the survival rate for children with cancer around the world to 60% by 2030.
She said that each year, over 5,000 new cases of cancer in children and teens are likely to be found in the Philippines.
She said that the Southern Philippines Medical Centre (SPMC), which is the largest hospital run by the Department of Health, is the last stop for children with cancer in Mindanao.
The National Integrated Cancer Control Act of 2019 made the SPMC a world-class centre for treating childhood cancer.
It grew into a place where people can get universal health care, cancer support funds, and programmes to get cancer medicines.
“The global pandemic has made it harder for kids with cancer to get care, and in 2020 there will only be 268 of them.” But the number is expected to rise to 349 by 2022, and the Mindanao Paediatric Cancer Care Network is treating 527 new and old cases of childhood cancer right now,” she said.
Cancer that affects a lot of young people
Dolendo said that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which has an average survival rate of 50%, is the most common type of cancer in children in this area.
Retinoblastoma is a type of cancer that affects the eye. It is also the most common type of solid tumour.
“Cancer in kids is very different from cancer in adults. It can be caused by both genetics and exposure to the surroundings, among other things. “Our plan is to find cancer early and send patients to hospitals that can treat it,” she said, adding that people should also live healthy lives to fight the disease.
September is Childhood Cancer Month around the world.(via PNA)
