WHO joined Uganda Cancer Institute, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Ministry of Health and other partners in Kampala to develop the five-year child and adolescent cancer control strategy, under the theme, ‘The Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer - Curing children and adolescents with cancer in Uganda’.

 Worldwide, 429,000 children and adolescents develop cancer annually. Of these, almost nine (9) out of 10 children live in low- and middle-income countries, with almost 40% being from Africa. Uganda registers about 3,000 new child and adolescent cancers annually, with only 30% presenting to cancer treatment centres in the country. The most prevalent childhood cancers in Uganda include: Burkitt lymphoma, acute leukemia, Wilms tumour and rhabdomyosarcoma.

Although, most childhood cancers can be cured with appropriate treatment like generic medicines, surgery and radiotherapy, the three-year survival rate for childhood cancer in Uganda is around 20%-30%. Improvements in childhood cancer outcomes depend on the ability of health system to coordinate early, ensure early case detection and referral, deliver intensive multimodal therapy, and provision of adequate supportive care for treatment-associated complications. Social support for the affected families is one of the facilitators of good cancer treatment outcome.

In May 2017, the World Health Assembly responded to the public health challenge imposed by cancer through Resolution (WHA70.12), on cancer control through an integrated approach. To this resolution, WHO in collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer in 2018. The initiative brings together stakeholders from around the world and across sectors with the goal of increasing the survival of children with cancer globally to at least 60% by 2030.  Through the initiative, WHO and partners are supporting focus countries including Uganda, to strengthen their capacity to provide quality services for children with cancer.

The childhood and adolescent strategy seeks to transform Uganda’s approach to the management  of childhood cancer for better outcomes.

Health authorities in the country are striving to increase the survival rate of children with cancer to the global target of 60% for Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer by 2030, as expressed by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health:

“Our goal is to enhance early detection, improve treatment outcomes, and provide comprehensive support to children and their families throughout their cancer journey,” said Dr. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Health.

Dr. Christine Musanhu Chiedza, the acting WHO Representative, emphasized that, “It is my hope that the detailed product of this meeting will be incorporated into the main National Cancer strategy to enable comprehensive resource mobilization and joint monitoring of progress in the implementation of childhood cancer control interventions.”

Children who complete cancer treatment require ongoing care to monitor for cancer recurrence and to manage any possible long-term impact of treatment. Since not all children with cancer can be cured, paediatric palliative care is considered a core component of comprehensive care, starting when the illness is diagnosed and continuing throughout treatment and care, regardless of whether or not a child receives treatment with curative intent. Palliative care programmes can be delivered through community and home-based care, providing pain relief and psychosocial support to patients and their families.