In high-income countries, where comprehensive services are generally available, more than 80% of children with cancer are cured, while in low- and middle-income countries less than 30% of children are cured, reports the World Health Organization (WHO) on the occasion of World Childhood Cancer Day.
Only 29% of low-income countries report that cancer drugs are widely available to the population, compared to 96% of high-income countries.
Also, in low- and middle-income countries, preventable deaths from childhood cancer result from a lack of diagnosis, incorrect or late diagnosis, difficulties in accessing care, abandonment of treatment, treatment toxicity, and higher relapse rates.
The WHO supports health actors and national structures in order to prevent these avoidable deaths. This is the case in Senegal, as Asma’s story shows.
When lost in thought, Asma recalls the long journeys between her parents’ home in Mbour, a coastal town in western Senegal, and Aristide Le Dantec Hospital in Dakar, where she was treated for a leukaemia. She ended up knowing the way by heart.
Diagnosed at 16, she underwent intensive treatment for three long years. This was followed by a five-year monitoring period to detect potential relapses that would put his life in danger.
“The first two months after my diagnosis, I was hospitalized without being able to go out. Thereafter, my mother accompanied me three to four times a week and we had to get up at 3 a.m. each time to get ready and arrive early at the hospital,” she says.
Most childhood cancer deaths are preventable
In Senegal, it is estimated that 800 to 1,200 children and adolescents are affected by cancer each year.
The majority of deaths from childhood cancers are preventable. These deaths result from a lack of precise diagnosis, incorrect or late diagnosis and difficulties in accessing care. Early diagnosis and adequate care can increase survival rates to more than 80% for the most common cancers.
In the country, the efforts of the government supported by its partners aim to reverse the trend and save more lives. Several advances are thus noted: the cost of hospitalization for children treated for cancer is 50% subsidized at the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital.
In addition, the social service accompanies families to reduce the costs of certain additional examinations and surgical procedures, not to mention that certain anti-cancer drugs are provided free of charge by the State.
Communication, the key to early detection to save lives
In order to increase the capacity for early detection of childhood cancers and to increase survival, the WHO supports the government’s efforts to raise public awareness of the need for early detection.
“It’s about getting started early to save lives,” says WHO Representative Dr Lucile Imboua.
“The majority of children die because their disease is diagnosed late. It is communication that is lacking, especially with parents and guardians of children. This communication is essential to enable those responsible for the child to notice the signs of cancer, and to consult a health professional as soon as possible,” she explains.
Dr Fatou Binetou Diagne, pediatric oncologist at Aristide Le Dantec Hospital, treated Asma. She is dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer and has worked in the pediatric department for 15 years.
“I chose this discipline because it was my way of serving my country and the need for human resources was crying out. In the department, we are two pediatric oncologists, a general pediatrician and a team of three to four trainee doctors”.
The pediatric oncology department treated 1,134 children with cancer from 2016 to 2020 with 45% concerning three major types of cancer: leukemia, nephroblastoma and retinoblastoma, affecting the blood, kidney and eye respectively.
Integrate pediatric oncology into the national plan
The WHO has also supported the training of health workers in the early diagnosis of the most frequent cancers in children and their adequate management.
Supporting national structures to ensure this large-scale communication, the WHO has supported the development of communication tools on frequent childhood cancers, emphasizing the warning signs and explaining the process. to be continued.
Between November and December 2021, more than 400 communication media were produced for professionals and partners, including audiovisual elements for national distribution.
The Organization’s support is also provided at the highest level with a significant impact. “Our advocacy has made it possible to put the fight against childhood cancer back at the center of priorities at the national level. Pediatric oncology is now included in the national plan against cancer for the period 2022-2026, which is a fundamental step in laying solid and lasting foundations in the fight against this major public health problem and to prevent more children die when it is preventable”, specifies Dr Imboua.
For Dr Diagne, these are all reasons for hope. It particularly welcomes the support of various partners, including the Franco-African Group of Pediatric Oncology (GFAOP), which supports in several areas the teams that treat children with cancer in African countries, and the Senegalese League against cancer (LISCA) which provides support for medication and subsidizes radiotherapy for certain children.
“What encourages me to continue on this path is the satisfaction of seeing former patients treated in the service, cured of cancer and becoming happy and productive teenagers and adults. I know that things will change for the better with all this support from partners, but also from the strong political will to promote pediatric oncology”.
Throughout Asma’s treatment, Dr Diagne couldn’t help admiring the young girl’s courage and her determination to emerge victorious.
” I greatly admire ! Despite everything she went through, and throughout the intense and difficult treatment she underwent, she still obtained both her patent at the very beginning of the treatment and then her baccalaureate, towards the end of her period. of chemotherapy. Until today, she is a regular in the service where she spends time with hospitalized children and she encourages them through her own story. She tells us that no one can understand them better than her! »
For Asma, her experience continues to mark her.
“One thing that is always difficult for me is remembering my friends who lost the battle to cancer. I am thinking particularly of my friend Binta, with whom I was hospitalized in the same room, and who had become like a sister. The day she left me will forever be etched in my memory. It is true that cancer can be cured, but some pain does not go away”.
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