Over 70 per cent of childhood cancers are curable in developed countries with advanced medical capacity.
The situation in Third World countries like Ghana paints a very different picture.
Statistics indicate only 20 per cent or 200 out of every 1,000 children diagnosed of childhood cancers survive over five years.
Ironically, only a quarter or 250 cases out of 1,000 children with cancer condition are reported every year at Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals, the only known treatment centers in the country.
Out of a global figure of 200,000 children who have cancer, 160,000 (80%) live in developing countries.
A UK-based non-governmental organization, World Child Cancer, is supporting diagnosis, treatment and advocacy in cancer programs in Ghana.
It is working at Korle Bu, Komfo Anokye and Tamale Teaching Hospitals as operational centres.
World Child Cancer hopes to reduce poverty and child mortality through improvement in diagnosis, treatment and care for affected children.
As part of its advocacy initiatives, the group has organized sensitization seminar for nearly 70 of the School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
World Child Cancer Country Programme Coordinator, George Achempim tells Nhyira FM Lymphomas, Leukaemias, Retinoblastomas which affect the eyes and Wilms (Kidney) are some of the commonest childhood cancers in Ghana.
According to him, combating the disease will take a combined effort of parents of affected children and other members of the public on one hand and health workers on the other.
World Child Cancer hopes to create more awareness as it seeks to encourage post-humous review to establish the actual cause in the event of death of a cancer victim.
This will be done through pathological evidence and analysis of childhood cancer treatment in Ghana, providing routine training and other forms of support for pediatric oncology caregivers.
