Childhood cancers are more common in low-income countries than in high-income countries. More than 80% of the world’s children live in countries with a medium to low standard of living. In Eritrea, more than 500 cases of childhood cancer are expected each year. Not a single child can currently be treated in Eritrea. All children die. There is no palliative care to help children and young people die free of pain and with dignity.
In a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa, initial programmes for the treatment of individual oncological diseases have been implemented. These protocols are already being implemented very successfully in countries such as Malawi, Kenya, Ghana and Sudan. In cooperation with the working group for Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries (PODC) and the International Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), ARCHEMED will implement initial programmes to combat cancer in Eritrea.
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The paediatric cancer programme in Eritrea has three objectives for the next few years:
- Renovating and opening a ward in the children’s hospital built by the Italian colonialists. Work on this has already begun in spring 2016, and the inauguration will take place in spring 2025.
- Training and further education of doctors and nursing staff to enable them to work independently on site in the long term. The treatment of oncological patients allows no delay. There are defined therapy protocols according to which cancers can be treated. The establishment and independent implementation of the first protocols will be possible after some time.
- The treatment of initially two cancers in children and adolescents will begin. These were selected because they are diseases that are very curable. The cancers are called Wilms’ tumour and Hodgkin’s lymphoma; it is expected that initially up to 20 affected children per year can be treated. Treatment protocols already exist through SIOP and PODC. These must be carefully adapted for Eritrea together with the colleagues working there.
Project management
Prof. Dr. Uta Dirksen, paediatric oncologist, Essen
