KHCC marks International Childhood Cancer Day with focus on early diagnosis

AMMAN — The King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) on Tuesday launched an awareness campaign on the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Day, which falls annually on February 15. 

The campaign is part of a partnership with Childhood Cancer International and the Jordanian Society of Paediatric Oncology, whose slogan is “With early, accurate diagnosis and advanced treatment methods applied by skilled doctors, the recovery rate can go from 80 to 90 per cent”. 

The KHCC aims to make available cutting-edge treatments and therapies for childhood cancer, which affects between 350 and 400 Jordanian children annually, said Asem Mansour, KHCC’s general director. 

Mansour highlighted the importance of early diagnosis and precision in recognising symptoms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jordan’s recovery rate for childhood cancers reached 80 per cent and exceeded 90 per cent for certain types of leukaemia, rates equalling those of global leaders in childhood cancer treatment, Mansour added.

Worldwide childhood cancer cases are expected to reach 413,000 in 2022, he said, noting that according to the National Cancer Registry, there have been 6,303 cases in Jordan over the past 14 years, most which are treated at the KHCC.

Rod Rihani, a consultant at the KHCC in haematology and oncology, said that the main message of this year’s International Childhood Cancer Day is “surviving cancer is in your hands”. 

The campaign included a social media push aimed at raising awareness about the high recovery rates for childhood cancer in February and March of last year, in addition to a planned “science day” at the KHCC with the participation of NGOs and Jordanian healthcare workers, which will focus on early diagnosis and rapid referral of cases to the specialised hospitals.

The World Health Organisation has recently launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer with the goal of curing 60 per cent of global childhood cancer cases by 2030. Jordan is working on this initiative with the goal of unifying treatment protocols for the six types of cancer the WHO deemed most important, Petra reported.