Tedros  Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organisation director-general, said every year, an estimated 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer.

Mr Ghebreyesus said this on Wednesday during an online media conference on global health issues.

According to him, in high-income countries, almost 90 per cent of children survive, while in low-income and middle-income countries, survival rates are often below 30 per cent.

“In 2018, WHO established a Global Initiative on Childhood Cancer with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States and more than 100 other partners.

“As part of the initiative, WHO and St. Jude have also established a global platform to improve access to lifesaving medicines for children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries,” he said.

Mr Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, it began distributing childhood cancer medicines at no cost in the first two countries: Mongolia and Uzbekistan.

The WHO boss said that medicines are planned for four other countries: Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal, and Zambia.

“We estimate these treatments will reach about 5000 children with cancer across at least 30 hospitals in these six countries this year.

“Six more countries have been invited to join the platform, and over the next five to seven years, WHO aims to reach 120,000 children in 50 countries.

“We are very encouraged to see how this programme has grown since we started in 2018, and we thank St. Jude for its partnership,” he said.

(NAN)