CANCaRe Africa: Meet Esther and her mother who come from Chikwawa district where they live

Maite Gorostegui, Pediatric Oncologist at Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, shared a post by CANCaRe Africa on LinkedIn, adding:

”Dear Pediatric oncology community (and community in general), from Chikwawa to Blantyre (Malawi) there are less than 100km. When I thought about it, a recent conversation I had with an infectologist working at St.John of God (Sierra Leone) came to my mind. She explained to me that.

From Lunsar to Freetown the distance is similar…What it seems “not so far away” for me coming from Chile, and living in Europe, can represent a hurdle and difficult the treatment access in other areas. It carries “financial toxicity” before the treatment even starts, and your family depend on friends and sometimes on strangers…don’t look the other way, look at this picture, it is great this kid is receiving treatment, but do not forget there is still a lot to do.”

Quoting CANCaRe Africa’s post:

”Meet Esther and her mother who come from Chikwawa district where they live. A few months ago, Esther was diagnosed with cancer and has been receiving chemotherapy treatment at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Malawi. It takes about 2 hours to travel from their home to QECH. She is responding well to treatment and is currently at home planning to come back in a couple of weeks for further treatment. Esther’s father has been very supportive. He has had to borrow money from friends to bring his daughter to the hospital for the diagnosis and start of treatment.

NB: picture and story shared with appropriate consent.”

Source: Maite Gorostegui/LinkedIn and CANCaRe Africa/LinkedIn