Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines

Close to 90% of these children live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where survival rates are less than 30%. This is in stark contrast to high-income countries, where survival rates exceed 80%. WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC) aims to achieve a global survival of at least 60% for children with cancer, while ensuring that the suffering of all these children is reduced.

Many childhood cancer hospitals, particularly in LMICs, struggle to achieve consistent access to reasonably priced, safe, effective, and standard quality medicines for their patients. Children lack access to essential curative treatments, or experience prolonged interruptions in therapy, thus increasing their risk of treatment failure and death. In 2019, governments in 29% of LICs and 64% of lower-middle-income countries consistently reported the unavailability of cancer medicines to the general population.

Market fragmentation, lack of availability of essential medicines, low-quality products, and high purchasing costs are among many of the challenges today. The availability of essential cancer medicines around the globe is inconsistent due to supply and demand issues and complicated regulations. The quality of medicines is threatened when governments and administrations favor the lowest-cost bids. The cost of childhood cancer medicines is often excluded from budgets, creating financial hardship for families in LMICs.