The World Health Organization and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are rolling off the distribution of critically needed childhood cancer medicines in two of the six pilot countries.
And Zambia happens the only African country which is soon set to receive part of the consignments of special cancer treatment medicines for children.
The treatments delivered through the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines are expected to reach approximately 5000 children with cancer.
Currently, these medicines are being delivered to Mongolia and Uzbekistan, with next shipments planned for Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia.
They will be supplied across more than 30 hospitals in these countries in the course of 2025.
The Global Platform is a first initiative of its kind.
Countries in the pilot phase will receive an uninterrupted supply of quality-assured childhood cancer medicines at no cost.
In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), childhood cancer survival rates are often below 30 percent, significantly lower than those in high-income countries.
Six additional countries have been formally invited to join the platform.
The initiative is poised to become the largest, with the goal of reaching 50 nations in the next 5 to 7 years.
It aims to eventually provide medicines for the treatment of approximately 120 000 children with cancer in low and middle-income countries, significantly reducing mortality rates.
“For too long, children with cancer have lacked access to life-saving medicines,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization.
“This unique partnership between WHO and St. Jude is working to provide quality-assured cancer medicines to pediatric hospitals in low-and middle-income countries,” he added.
Every year, an estimated 400 000 children worldwide develop cancer.
The majority of these children, living in resource-limited settings, are unable to consistently obtain or afford cancer medicines.
It is estimated that 70 percent of the children from these precincts die from cancer due to factors such as lack of appropriate treatment, treatment disruptions or low-quality medicines.
“A child’s chances of surviving cancer are largely determined by where they are born, making this one of the starkest disparities in global healthcare,” said James Downing, the Chief Executive Officer of St. Jude.
“St. Jude was founded on Danny Thomas’ dream that no child should die in the dawn of life. By developing this platform, we believe this dream can someday be achieved for children stricken by cancer, irrespective of where they live,” said Dowing.
St. Jude and WHO announced the platform in 2021 to ensure children around the world have access to lifesaving treatments.
The platform brings together governments, the pharmaceutical industry and non-governmental organizations in a unique collaborative model focused on creating solutions for children with cancer.
The co-design approach addresses the broader needs of national stakeholders, with a focus on capacity building and long-term sustainability.
The platform provides comprehensive end-to-end support, from consolidating global demand to shaping the market, assisting countries with medicine selection and developing treatment standards.
It represents a transformative model for the broader global health community working together to tackle health challenges, in particular for children and noncommunicable diseases.
To accomplish this, St. Jude and WHO partner with UNICEF Supply Division, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Strategic Fund.