15th of February is International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD).

ICCD is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families.

Dear SIOP members, friends and supporters,

Today is International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD). This day is a time to reflect on our vision that “no child should die of cancer – cure for more and care for all”.  Through all your efforts, we continue to make progress towards this vision, of more effective and kinder treatments, with greater access to diagnosis and care for children and young people with cancer around the world.

SIOP members and colleagues are helping to support the World Health Organisation Global Initiative on Childhood Cancer (siop-online.org/who-global-initiative-for-childhood-cancer. The governments of several low and middle income countries have already committed to achieving the WHO target of at least 60% survival rate for all their children with cancer by 2030. This is a major step forward and further countries will commit to implementing the WHO Global Initiative on Childhood Cancer in the coming year.  This means that many more children around the world can look forward to growing up to a fulfilling adulthood as a result.

In an article published in the Economist Intelligence Unit (https://bit.ly/39vPqsP), I  have highlighted the extent of the challenge in late diagnosis of childhood cancer and also the many solutions that SIOP members have contributed to. These include defining the factors that lead to treatment failure and introducing effective models of care that can overcome these. I hope you find these materials useful in your local advocacy and educational work.

On the occasion of ICCD 2020, we celebrate the young people who have survived childhood cancer and all that they have achieved. Their stories are full of optimism and should encourage those striving to make a difference to childhood cancer care around the world. While there is still a long road to travel to ensure every child has access to early diagnosis and timely care delivered by a well trained and resourced team, we can celebrate that the journey has begun at a global scale and we are all part of it.

Thank you again for the wonderful work you are doing.

Yours,

Kathy Pritchard-Jones (SIOP President) on behalf of the board

Please join SIOP on ICCD 2020 as we highlight the action taken by all our members to strive for #beatingchildhoodcancer and that “Every child should have the chance of life!”

Raise awareness by participating in our #beatingchildhoodcancer Campaign! Use our social media graphic by using the hashtag #beatingchildhoodcancer as well as #ICCD2020 when posting on social media.

Unite your colleagues, friends, families and local community for ICCD!
Whether a fundraiser, flash mob, or fun run, your activity will raise awareness and make a difference.
Email us all the important details directly to info@siop-online.org and we will make them publicly available on our campaign website and share on social media.

We would like to thank Tina Bouffet for her excellent work and immense creativity to bring our campaign material to life.

Cured of Childhood Cancer – What’s next?
A project funded by Gert and Susanna Mayer Foundation

Download full article here