Hosted by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) and World Child Cancer UK

Session chairs

• Piera Freccero, UK (Director of Programmes, WCC-UK)
• Kathy Pritchard-Jones, UK (immediate past-President, SIOP and Professor of Paediatric Oncology at University College London)

Many essential drugs needed to treat children with cancer are not available to hospitals in low and middle income countries.

This is a major problem  with over 50% of essential drugs not available meaning children aren’t having the best treatment causing unnecessary deaths, longer stays in hospitals, and more side effects.

Hear about the work being done by NGOs, pharmaceuticals, institutions, WHO, and clinicians to help resolve this problem at a global and local level.

This interactive session with expert presenters will:

• Discuss new initiatives to improve uninterrupted and affordable provision of high quality essential medicines needed to treat children with cancer.
• Present examples from children’s hospitals in Malawi and Cameroon. What do these shortages mean to families, and how World Child Cancer are providing practical help.
• Show how the new initiatives fit together and how collaboration is the key to success and helping reduce the gap between the high income countries and the rest of world. 
• Include a panel discussion of clinicians, activists, representatives from key players in global oncology,  with interactive Q&A with the audience.

• Introductory Remarks by Mrs Piera Freccero (CEO, WCC-UK)

Welcome and overview

• Mr Daniel Mckenzie (Executive Director, Kidzcan Zimbabwe)

What’s the problem we are trying to solve and how do we work around it now?

• Prof Gilles Vassal (Head of Paediatric Research programme, Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Centre, France, SIOP Europe Board Member)

WHO Essential Medicines to Cure Children with Cancer

• Dr André Ilbawi (Technical lead, Cancer Control Department of Noncommunicable Diseases Division of Universal Health Coverage, World Health Organization)

 “Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines” in collaboration with St. Jude Global

Find out more here

• Mrs Melissa Rendler-Garcia (Senior Adviser and ATOM Coalition Project Lead at UICC, Switzerland):

UICC ATOM project and implementation plans

Find out more here

• Mrs Adele Paterson (CEO of International Health Partners (IHP), UK)

How IHP bridges the gap in the supply of paediatric oncology medicines

• Dr George Chagaluka (Paediatric Oncologist, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi)

Example of how reliable access to high quality medicines is an integral component of improving childhood cancer care (African perspective)

• Dr Liliana Vasquez (immediate past-President, SLAOP & SIOP LATAM, int. consultant for the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

Essential medications for children with cancer in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Panel Discussion and Q&A with on-line audience:

All speakers, opened by Dr Guillermo Chantada (SIOP President) and moderated by Prof Kathy Pritchard-Jones (immediate past-President, SIOP)

View here

• Reliable access to quality medicines for childhood cancer can close is essential in closing the care gap.
• Team efforts by multiple stakeholders, (including the WHO-St Jude Global Access Platform and the UICC ATOM Coalition starting implementation in 2023, are helping to realise this goal.
• An Essential Medicine List can drive the process, support context-specific research, and impact national policy and procurement.

Building on the previous success of the SIOP Europe Access to Medicines Project – where new paediatric cancer medicines and tumour indications were crosslinked and added to the World Health Organisation Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc) 2021, we are delighted to announce that SIOP Europe has published the first-ever standalone summary of anticancer medicines considered essential in the treatment of paediatric cancer in Europe in The Lancet Oncology.

Project results are designed to address needs of children and adolescents with cancer in Europe, to support and guide stakeholders in the field of paediatric oncology and to reflect the current standard of care. Still today, medicine shortages and unequal access are observed in Europe.

Read full article here

Access the manuscript in The Lancet Oncology here (free access until 20 December 2022).

Afterwards you may access the manuscript in The Lancet Oncology via this link.

The WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines are updated every two years by the Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines.

The first Essential Medicines List was published in 1977, and the first Essential Medicines List for Children was published in 2007.

The current versions, updated in September 2021, are the 22nd Essential Medicines List (EML) and the 8th Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc).

Access here