One world, one fight: global childhood cancer care

Paediatric cancer and incidence

Due to the rarity and complexity of paediatric oncology, providing effective treatment demands highly specialised expertise. However, access to such care remains profoundly unequal across global health systems, highlighting the urgent need for global collaboration to address these disparities.

Paediatric cancer is a term that encompasses a diverse range of cancers affecting children aged 0-19 years¹. However, age definitions vary across institutions: the European Society for Medical Oncology defines paediatric oncology as 0-14 years², while St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, USA, includes patients up to 21 years in most trials³. These variations reflect differences in tumour biology, treatment tolerance in developing bodies, and eligibility criteria for clinical trials⁴.

The World Health Organization (WHO)⁵estimates that around 400,000 children are diagnosed with paediatric cancer annually, with 80% surviving in high-income countries...