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Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related deaths in kids: After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in kids overall.
Global burden: About 400,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many live in countries where survival rates are far below those in high-income nations.
Not just “small adult cancers”: Most childhood cancers arise from developmental errors in growing tissues, not lifestyle or environmental factors.
Distinct subtypes: Tumours like neuroblastoma or certain brain tumours occur almost exclusively in children, so research and treatments must be specialized.
Few drugs developed for kids: In the past 40 years, fewer than a dozen new cancer drugs were created specifically for children. Most pediatric treatments use drugs developed for adults with cancer.
Long-term side effects: Standard chemotherapies and radiation can damage a growing child’s brain, heart, fertility, and more, which leads to lifelong health issues.
Decades of survivorship: Because children live for many decades after treatment, late effects—heart disease, secondary cancers, cognitive changes—can surface long after therapy ends.
Economic and emotional toll: Families often face months to years of intensive care, missed work, and financial strain.
Global survival gap: Survival exceeds 80% in wealthy countries, but in many low- and middle-income nations it can be less than 30%, largely due to lack of access to diagnosis and treatment.
Relapsed, refractory, and hard-to-cure cancers: The treatment of relapsed (when the cancer comes back), refractory (when the cancer doesn't respond to treatment, and hard-to-cure cancers (those that have no standard of care) have not made much progress over the last 30+ years. Cancers like DMG brain tumours, osteosarcoma, and others are without effective treatments.
Underfunded research: Childhood cancers receive a fraction of national cancer research budgets, even though the potential years of life saved per patient are far greater.
In high-income countries, about 8 out of 10 children diagnosed with cancer now survive at least five years, compared with roughly 3 out of 10 in the 1960s.
For some types, like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), survival rates exceed 90%.
Targeted therapies and immunotherapies—such as CAR-T cell treatments—are giving options to children whose cancers didn’t respond to standard chemotherapy.
Many new drugs first tested in adult cancers are now being adapted for pediatric use more quickly than before.
Advances in imaging, surgery, and precision medicine mean doctors can often use lower doses of chemotherapy or radiation, reducing long-term side effects.
Fertility-preserving treatments and better supportive care help children maintain quality of life during and after therapy.
Genetic and molecular testing allows doctors to pinpoint a tumour’s unique profile, leading to personalized treatment plans and fewer unnecessary procedures.
The World Health Organization’s “Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer” aims to raise worldwide survival to at least 60% by 2030, focusing on countries where survival is still very low.
Millions of childhood cancer survivors are now graduating, working, starting families, and advocating for better research and care.