International Childhood Cancer Day: The Tanzania Model

To mark International Childhood Cancer Day on 15 February 2021, Tumaini la Maisha in collaboration with the AERAP Africa-EU Science Collaboration Platform will organise a virtual roundtable entitled “Childhood Cancer: The Tanzania Model as a shared research and clinical infrastructure in Africa”.

International Childhood Cancer Day is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families.

80% of children diagnosed with cancer are cured in high-income countries (HIC’s). 80% of childhood cancers globally occur in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC’s) where survival rates are generally less than 20% of children affected.
In September 2018, the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer was launched. This aims for a survival rate of at least 60% for children with cancer to be attained by 2030, thereby saving an additional one million lives. This new target represents a doubling of the global cure rate for children with cancer.

“Too many children have their lives cut short by cancer, and survival rates in poor countries are scandalously lower than those in wealthy countries,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
The webinar will explore Tanzania’s efforts to change this paradigm. This East African country is meeting this challenge on many fronts including a national network of aligned clinical facilities; ground-breaking research partnerships; local expertise strengthening through multi-disciplinary university-based education; and the development of a range of highly innovative tools and support platforms specifically designed for children’s cancer services in resource-limited settings.
 

Speakers will include:

Declan Kirrane, AERAP
Barry Andrews MEP, Brussel, Belgium.
Omary Said Ubuguyu Coordinator for Cancer, Non-communicable disease unit, Ministry of Health, Tanzania
Trish Scanlan We Are TLM (Tumaini la Maisha/Their Lives Matter)
Jerry Ndumbalo Tanzanian Cancer Society President, Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Tanzania
Mary O’Neill, Embassy of Ireland - Ambassador, Tanzania
Owen Smith University College Dublin UCD – Professor of Paediatrics and Haematology, Ireland
Laila Hessissen International Society of Paediatric oncology - President, SIOP Africa Continental President, Morocco
Joyce Kambugu International Society of Paediatric oncology - President, SIOP Africa Continental President-Elect, Uganda
Pierre Bey Groupe Franco Africain d’Oncologie Pediatrique, GFAOP - President, France
Mary Horgan Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) - President, Ireland
Martin Corbally Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI)
Prof Laurence Museru Muhimbili University Hospital (MNH), Tanzania
Anne Jones Genuity Science, Ireland