Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Bonjour, good morning, bom dia to all our Excellencies and participants and partners who have joined us.
Votre Excellence, Ministre de la Santé du Burkina Faso, Professeur Charlemagne Ouédraogo
Votre Excellence, Monsieur le Ministre de la Santé de Mauritanie et autres excellences qui sont avec nous,
Executive Vice President of Saint Jude Global, Dr Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo,
Président du Groupe Franco-Africain d’Oncologie Pédiatrique, Professor Pierre Bey,
Director of Global HOPE at Texas Children’s Hospital, Professor David Poplack, and I would like to greet his representative.
President of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology in Africa, Professor Laila Hessissen,
I would like to greet in a special way Professor Chitsike, who is an old friend and associate.
Dear partners and colleagues,
My warm greetings and welcome to this event commemorating International Childhood Cancer Day.
I would like to start by appreciating the collaboration of our partners, several of whom will be speaking today, for your support for WHO’s work and for the work you do directly with our Member States.
In particular, I would like to recognize Her Excellency the First Lady of Zambia, Mrs Esther Lungu, and Her Excellency, the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Mrs Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, for their advocacy on this issue and for their goodwill messages which will be shared with all of us and broadcast during this event.
Every year, more than 400,000 children are diagnosed with cancer globally. Most of these children live in low- and middle-income countries, where treatment is either unavailable or unaffordable. As a result, only 30% of children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries survive, whereas in high-income countries survival rates exceed 80%. This profound inequity is a threat to the attainment of Universal Health Coverage and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals with all their impact on development of human capital in low- and middle-income countries.
Member States have committed to tackle childhood cancer through World Health Assembly resolution 70.12 adopted in 2017. This resolution led to the launch of WHO’s Global Initiative on Childhood Cancer in 2018.
The Global Initiative aims to improve the dire outcomes that children with cancer face in most African countries and other low- and middle-income countries. It provides a platform for stakeholders across sectors to support local efforts to scale-up capacities to save lives and reduce suffering among children.
The Initiative has set a global target of at least 60% survival rate for childhood cancer by 2030. This would require a doubling of the current survival rate in the Region – it is ambitious, but it is achievable.
Through this Global Initiative, in the African Region, we are supporting Zambia, Senegal and Ghana, for example to develop, adapt and implement tools and technical packages to increase access to quality services for children with cancer and to monitor the outcomes of specific interventions. So far, all three countries have completed a situation analysis towards developing action plans. They have also strengthened the capacities of health workers to diagnose and manage childhood cancer.
What we would need to do is to share the experiences of these countries so that at the same time as we are working in a limited way, other partners are able to support other countries.
Some of the key challenges in health systems in African countries are the inability of health workers to accurately diagnose childhood cancers, the limited availability of pathology services, inaccessible therapy, abandonment of treatment, death from side effects (due sometimes to a lack of skills and technology to monitor drug levels), and excessive relapse, in part due to a gap in access to essential medicines and technologies.
To achieve Universal Health Coverage and other NCD-related targets, actions to address cancer must include childhood cancer and be orientated towards governance, innovative funding strategies, building national capacity including at the most peripheral level of health care systems, improving cancer service provision including pain relief and implementing a comprehensive surveillance system.
At WHO we are also advocating to improve public awareness that most childhood cancers are curable if detected and diagnosed early, and to address false beliefs, such as that cancer is contagious or is a punishment. These harmful falsehoods stigmatize cancers and make it difficult for patients to seek early screening and treatment.
Strengthening child and adolescent health services is a key strategy in our work on childhood cancer and so our regional flagship programme on adolescent health will be involved in this work to ensure young people have access to care when they need it, delivered in ways that they accept.
In closing, I urge us all as individuals to raise awareness, share accurate information, and express solidarity with young people who have cancer, as well as the survivors and their families. I urge governments and partners to ensure adequate resourcing and strong collaboration to advance local action to improve cancer diagnosis and care.
I firmly believe that together we can double the survival rate for African children with cancer in the coming years and I thank you very much for your attention.