Damascus - Sana
Governmental and private agencies share in bearing the costs of caring for and treating children with cancer in Syria. Despite the challenges imposed by the economic blockade in securing medicines and their high costs, the services remain free in parallel with the work to develop them to keep pace with international standards and provide better opportunities to save children.
The percentage of childhood cancer locally, according to cumulative statistics over a period of 20 years, is estimated between 5 and 10 percent of the total registered cancer cases, estimated at 17.5 thousand cases annually, according to the Director of Communicable and Chronic Diseases at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Zuhair Al-Sahwi.
Four hospitals provide free treatment for children with cancer, as Al-Sahwi explained to SANA, which is Al-Biruni University through the Basma and University Children Unit in Damascus, Tishreen University in Lattakia and Aleppo University.
Regarding the most common types of childhood cancers, Al-Sahwi mentioned that leukemia comes first, followed by cancer of the central nervous system, brain, lymphoma, bone, kidney, retinoblastoma and histiocytosis.
Al-Sahwi revealed a plan to establish a national registry for childhood cancer based on the population base, in cooperation with the National Committee for Cancer Control, the World Health Organization and the Basma Child Cancer Society.
Last year, Syria set up the first center for blood stem cell transplantation and cellular treatment of children in service within a special department at the University Children's Hospital in Damascus, to contribute to saving the lives of children with leukemia, some types of solid cancers, hereditary blood diseases, congenital immunodeficiency, congenital and hereditary metabolic diseases.
Despite the cost of tens of millions of pounds, depending on the situation and stage, the Basma Association for Supporting Children with Cancer continues to provide free diagnosis and treatment services for children. Since its establishment in 2006 until the end of last year, it reached more than 9,200 children from different governorates, according to the association's Executive Director, Rima Salem.
The association provides services for children, according to Salem, within a unit at Al-Biruni University Hospital, which includes 34 inpatient beds, two intensive care beds, and 15 outpatient beds, in addition to supporting children receiving treatment in a private clinic, indicating that the unit is applied according to the latest international treatment standards and the cure rate is estimated at 50 percent for all types of treatment. crabs.
Salem pointed out that the association is facing challenges imposed by the current circumstances related to financing, the difficulty of accessing remittances, and the lack of medicine in public hospitals, which increases the burden on it as it works to secure these medicines.
Since the beginning of this month, “Basma” launched a campaign entitled “With your contribution, the image complements” with the aim of increasing community support for its efforts, highlighting the issue of childhood cancer, and increasing attention to sick children.
Every day, more than a thousand cases of childhood cancer are diagnosed around the world, and at a time when most of these injuries can be treated, cancer is still a major cause of death among children and adolescents, according to the World Health Organization, which calls for attention to signs that may be indicative of its early stages, such as fever, unexplained weight loss, severe headaches and pain. limbs or bones.
Countries around the world celebrate in mid-February of each year the International Childhood Cancer Day, as this year the World Health Organization launched a call to reduce the gaps that still exist in the care and treatment of children with cancer, so that every child gets the best chance in life.
Rama Rashidi and Muhannad Suleiman
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