Efforts to improve the survival rate of children with cancer in Nigeria are getting stronger, thanks to new partnerships between local and international health organizations.
St. Jude Global Alliance, a well-known international group focused on childhood cancer care and research, is now working more closely with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and The Dorcas Cancer Foundation (TDCF) to help more children get better treatment.
The World Health Organization says about 400,000 children around the world get cancer each year, most of them living in poor or developing countries.
WHO also says around 70% of these children die because they don’t get the right treatment, their care is interrupted, or they get poor-quality medicines.
During a recent visit to Lagos, members of the St. Jude Global Alliance and Nigerian cancer experts shared their plans to increase training, improve care, and carry out more research together to help more children survive cancer.
Dr. Nickhill Bhakta, a cancer specialist and leader at St. Jude for the Sub-Saharan Africa region, said their goal is to help doctors at LUTH and TDCF provide better cancer care to childre.
Dr. Bhakta said that in Nigeria, less than 20% of children with cancer survive, while in countries like the United States, over 80% survive.**Paragraph 8:**He called this difference one of the biggest health gaps in the world today and said St. Jude wants to close this gap by offering training, support, and sharing resources.
He also said this effort supports a worldwide goal of reaching a 60% survival rate for children with cancer by the year 2030.
Dr. Adedayo Joseph, who founded TDCF and is Nigeria’s first child radiation cancer doctor, said the visit shows the importance of working together to improve cancer care for children in Africa.
Dr. Joseph added that, for the first time in Nigeria and West Africa, young patients with brain and kidney cancers, as well as leukemia, can now access advanced cancer treatment methods like intensity-modulated radiotherapy and Volumetric Arc Therapy at LUTH.
She said doctors and medical staff at LUTH are getting advanced training from St. Jude, which is one of the many ways this partnership is helping build skills.
Dr. Joseph also mentioned that new projects include working with LUTH’s social work team and TDCF’s patient support program to help children stay on treatment.
She added that plans are also being made to improve nursing education and practice for child cancer care with help from St. Jude.
Professor Edamisan Temiye, a child cancer doctor at LUTH and a lecturer at the University of Lagos, said the partnership with St. Jude is already leading to better results in cancer treatment for children.
He shared that visiting St. Jude’s hospital in the United States gave Nigerian doctors new ideas, some of which are now being used at LUTH.
He also said that survival rates for children with leukemia have gone up to 40–50%, compared to almost zero in the past.
But there are still problems with cancer testing, as Nigeria currently sends test samples to South Africa for diagnosis.
He noted that the labs in South Africa are getting overwhelmed because of the high number of samples.
To solve this issue, LUTH has now bought important testing tools like a flow cytometer and a fluorescent microscope to help with diagnosis in Nigeria.
Korede Akindele, Chief Operating Officer at TDCF, said this visit is a big chance to strengthen teamwork in Nigeria and keep improving cancer care and survival rates.
He said that St. Jude’s growing involvement in Nigeria is creating a strong partnership between global and local health experts to build a better cancer care system for children.
It’s a chance to reach more children, make a bigger difference, and support the global goal of equal cancer care for all children. We’re proud to work with St. Jude to make sure no child in Nigeria is left behind,” he said.
