100 children diagnosed with cancer annually in BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The association "Heart for Children with Cancer" is marking February 15, International Childhood Cancer Day, with the slogan "Because some victories we cannot achieve alone"!

The activities that will take place during the marking of International Childhood Cancer Day aim to raise awareness about childhood cancer and the importance of providing help and support to affected children and their parents.

The most common diseases in children are leukemias, central nervous system tumors, lymphomas, and neuroblastomas. Unfortunately, cancer is the leading cause of death in children. In BiH, around 100 new cases are diagnosed annually (60 newly diagnosed children annually in FBiH). The cure rate is 75% in BiH (which is also the world statistic). 80% cure rate for young patients with leukemia, 90% cure rate for lymphoma diagnoses.

The biggest challenges faced by parents and children with cancer in BiH are: the cost of medicines and treatments abroad; bureaucratic complications – often too late; lack of access to innovative medicines; lack of access to clinical trials; complicated drug procurement procedures; limited treatment options abroad. These are all areas where we need to work together and overcome obstacles to make the treatment of children with cancer as successful as possible and to make the journey through this process as easy as possible for our children and their families.

On February 15, one of the goals is to raise awareness about childhood cancer in our society, so we have prepared a series of activities that will contribute to this.