The World Health Organization (WHO) and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced that they began shipping essential medicines for childhood cancer to pilot countries Mongolia and Uzbekistan.
This distribution is part of the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines, with the goal of raising childhood cancer survival rates. Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal, and Zambia will receive treatments next. According to WHO’s announcement, “the treatments are expected to reach approximately 5000 children with cancer across at least 30 hospitals in these countries within this year.”
The six pilot countries “will receive an uninterrupted supply of quality-assured childhood cancer medicines at no cost.” The platform hopes to extend lifesaving medicine to “50 nations in the next 5 to 7 years,” and 120,000 children.
