Spotlight on Childhood Cancer
Childhood cancer still remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15.
September marks Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The aim is to educate people on the signs of childhood cancer, to aid early detection and to support children suffering from this disease.
Due to a lack of awareness, among other challenges, only a third of the actual amount of childhood cancer cases in South Africa is diagnosed annually.
This means that two thirds of children with cancer in South Africa do not have a fighting chance.
In many diagnosed cases, diagnosis occurs too late a stage to offer the patient treatment options, resulting in a high childhood cancer mortality rate.
“Child cancer is highly curable with survival rates of around 80%. In developed countries yet in low and middle income countries thousands of children die needlessly every year from the disease most dying without any effective pain relief,” said Mandie Erasmus from Little Fighters Cancer Club.
At least 50% of child cancers can be cured even in resource poor environments with relatively simple and inexpensive drugs and procedures which have been known to doctors for decades.
With that being said childhood cancer still remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 15.
According to Erasmus the causes of pediatric cancer are still largely unknown, and although new discoveries are resulting in new treatments, this heartbreaking disease continues to scar families and communities in ways that may never fully heal.
