Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2023: Enhancing Awareness and Understanding Pediatric Oncology- Dr Prerana S Nesargi

"CANCER", This word can send chills down the spine the moment it is uttered.

Cancer in a child is almost unexpected and unacceptable and it's presumed to be a myth.

However,  it's high time that we address this with facts in check so that all of us in society do our bit to achieve better survival for childhood cancers and participate to support them morally socially medically and financially to debust all the myths and taboos around this term.

Yes, it's TRUE cancers in children are very rare hardly accounting as the most common cause of non-infectious mortality in children, India contributes 26% of the global burden in a density country like ours it translates to significant numbers however it varies geographically in various types the present data taken from cancer registries across the nation which barely represent the top of an iceberg.

Having such significant numbers, people are unaware and thereby get delayed medical attention which influences chances of better treatment, survival and decreased speed/complications which can compromise the outcomes significantly.

Children as young including newborn is at risk as compared to an adult who has a host of environmental and lifestyle risk factors for developing cancer but in children it's a genetic disease having said that less than 5% is inherited which means the disease from parents however certain small proportion is indeed influenced by environmental factors like exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, exposure to ionizing radiation, certain viral infections.

Childhood cancers are in general very aggressive compared to adults managed in a multi-modal manner with chemotherapy radiation and surgery, they are highly chemosensitive and thereby have an advantage over adult cancer in terms of durability and having a second chance at normal childhood cancers are so curable that some forms stand chance of 95%(as per western data, we in India are not far behind).

However, these children do need support medically socially financially, and nutritionally, and TLC to achieve optimal outcomes this is only possible when more people are aware in every domain right from parents to teachers siblings to friends.

Overall childhood cancers can readily be detected and treated in India, with time every effort is made to make the treatment very affordable thanks to indigenous efforts by our medical and scientific community to make detection and treatment affordable and accessible to larger sections of the society, hence take a pledge to work towards your be supportive of this cause and to be aware also spread this awareness.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are of the author and not of Medical Dialogues. The Editorial/Content team of Medical Dialogues has not contributed to the writing/editing/packaging of this article.