Today, we celebrate five years of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and recognize the hard work of partner countries. – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Quoting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on LinkedIn:
“Five years ago, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, World Health Organization and other global partners came together at the United Nations General Assembly to announce the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC). The GICC has an ambitious goal to increase the global survival rate of six pediatric cancers to at least 60% by 2030. Pediatric cancer survival rates in high-income countries average 80%. In low- and middle-income countries, however, those rates are closer to 20%.
Since the GICC launched, it has expanded to more than 70 countries, including 36 focus countries where those governments have a significant role. St. Jude Global serves as technical adviser, working with the World Health Organization to accelerate actions toward increased cure rates and better care in each country.
“Every single country should commit to joining the GICC. Together, we can change the outlook for children with cancer everywhere,” says James R. Downing, MD, St. Jude president and CEO. “We must address childhood cancer as a global problem. Our efforts today will affect health care for all children so that one day, no child will die in the dawn of life from diseases that are curable.”
Today, we celebrate five years of the GICC and recognize the hard work of partner countries. St. Jude, WHO and representatives from other organizations like SIOP and countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Mongolia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uganda, and Zimbabwe met in New York at a side event to the UN General Assembly to further generate support to elevate and bridge the survival gap in childhood cancer. These leaders from across the globe are uniting with one mission in mind: increasing the survival rate of children with cancer globally while reducing their suffering and improving their quality of life.
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