Oluwatobi Adu 
ABUJA, Nigeria – Children with cancer face vastly different chances of survival depending on where they live, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting major gaps in survival between countries and age groups.
The WHO has published comparable childhood cancer survival estimates covering 194 Member States, providing a standardised baseline for measuring progress against its global childhood cancer targets. The data focus on five-year net survival for lymphoid leukaemia, one of the most common childhood cancers.
WHO data show a global median five-year survival of 62.3% for lymphoid leukaemia among children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 years between 2017 and 2021.
The survival rate was 66.7% among children aged 0 to 14, compared with just 38.7% among adolescents aged 15 to 19.
The agency said survival has improved globally but remains highly unequal across regions and age groups.
Countries with stronger health systems generally achieve substantially higher survival, while children in low- and middle-income settings continue to face barriers to early diagnosis, treatment and access to essential cancer medicines.
WHO said adolescents face particular challenges, including delayed diagnosis, weak links between paediatric and adult cancer services and limited evidence guiding adolescent cancer care. “Childhood cancer is one of the clearest indicators of health system performance,” said Dr Roberta Ortiz, Childhood Cancer Medical Officer in the WHO Cancer Programme.
The WHO estimates that around 400,000 children and adolescents develop cancer each year, with most cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries. It has set a target of at least 60% global childhood cancer survival by 2030.
The agency said gaps in cancer registries also limit countries’ ability to understand the scale of childhood cancer and track outcomes. Nearly 80% of the global population is not covered by population-based cancer registries, according to WHO.
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Mirian Gom