Paediatric oncologists and experts yesterday said awareness, preventive measures and early diagnosis can save the lives of thousands of children from cancer. They made the observation at an awareness campaign and art competition for children afflicted with cancer at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The experts said thousands of children die of cancer every year across the globe. They predicted that cancer would become an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh within the next few decades. There are 1.3 to 1.5 million cancer patients in Bangladesh, with about 200,000 new cases every year. The International organisation World Child Cancer and the DMCH organised the campaign under a UK Aid-funded project. As part of the campaign, children with cancer participated in an art competition held in the paediatric haematology and oncology ward of the hospital. DMCH director Brig. Gen. Md Mizanur Rahman said raising awareness about childhood cancer and early diagnosis could save the lives of many children across the world.
He blamed poor diagnosis, paucity of specially trained healthcare professionals and the mistaken belief that childhood cancer is too difficult to cure for very low survival rates among patients. Childhood cancer, in fact, can be cured even in resource-poor countries, and it is possible to save the lives of 50-60 per cent of children with easily treatable malignancies with relatively simple and inexpensive drugs and procedures that have been known to doctors for decades, he added.
According to World Child Cancer, more than 200,000 children are afflicted with cancer worldwide every year, of whom around 80 per cent live in low- or middle-income countries where survival rates are as low as 5 per cent as compared to 80 per cent in high-income countries. World Child Cancer believes approximately 70 per cent of childhood cancer can be cured if the disease is diagnosed early and treated with appropriate protocols. However, today around 80 per cent of the world’s children are deprived of advanced medical care, according to the organisation.
According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), death from cancer in Bangladesh was 7.5 per cent in 2005 and it has been predicted to jump to 13 per cent by 2030. Bangladesh has formulated a National Cancer Control Strategy and Plan of Action 2009-2015, with the assistance of WHO, to develop and implement continuum of cancer care through a comprehensive control programme. Dr Ashraful Huq Kazol, head of the paediatric surgery department of DMCH, and Dr AKM Amirul Morshed Khasru, head of the paediatric haematology and oncology department of DMCH, and Rizwana Hussain, World Child Cancer programme coordinator for Bangladesh, among others, spoke on the occasion.