Citation, extracts and a comment from me below.
CITATION: Editorial Volume 407, Issue 10536 p1303 April 04, 2026
Childhood cancer: progress, but not enough
The Lancet
SELECTED EXTRACTS
Childhood cancer remains the eighth leading cause of death among children worldwide. The latest Global Burden of Diseases estimates, also published in today's Lancet, suggest that 377 000 children aged 0–19 years developed cancer in 2023, with 85% of cases and 94% of deaths occurring in low-income and middle-income countries. Deaths from childhood cancer worldwide fell by 27% from 1990 to 2023, but not universally: mortality increased in low-income countries by 38% over this period...
Many childhood cancers are curable but the best care is not always provided, particularly for children in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. An estimated 40–50% of children with cancer in low-income settings do not receive a diagnosis, often because symptoms are not recognised or access to diagnostic services is patchy. Incorporation of educational messages or awareness campaigns into routine childhood immunisation programmes, together with expansion of imaging, laboratory, and pathology facilities, could facilitate earlier diagnosis.
Even when children do receive a cancer diagnosis it is often delayed, resulting in disease that is more difficult to treat or that requires more intensive treatment. Limited access to quality-assured medications or shortages of trained health-care workers can further undermine care. Treatment abandonment rates are high, due to families' inability to afford medicines or to travel long distances to a cancer centre...
The tools to cure most childhood cancers are already available. Achieving equitable outcomes now depends on delivering effective treatments to all children, not just to those in the wealthiest countries.
COMMENT (NPW): The figures suggest that around 900 children in LMICs are dying every day due to cancer, and most of these deaths would have been avoided if the global evidence ecosystem was fulfilling its role to ensure that every family, every health worker and every policymaker has access to the reliable information they need to prevent, diagnose and manage the disease. https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa
On behalf of CHIFA I would like to offer our discussion platform for a dedicated sponsored discussion on how to improve knowledge translation for child cancer. We would set up a project working group to plan and implement a 4-6-week exploration on the CHIFA forum of any or all aspects of knowledge translation, including challenges to generate, publish, synthesise, repackage, avail and apply evidence on child cancer in policy and practice. www.hifa.org/partners
This work could also feed into our ongoing collaboration with WHO 'To support the development of a technical brief for the World Health Organization to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information'.
CHIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org