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World Child Cancer is Going Gold to recognise Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Wednesday 26 August, 2015

World Child Cancer is Going Gold to recognise Childhood Cancer
Awareness Month

To recognise Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (September 2015), World Child Cancer is launching a Go Gold awareness and fund raising campaign.

Each year over 200,000 children globally develop cancer. In the developing world, where 80 per cent of those children live, less than ten per cent will survive, compared to an 80 per cent survival rate for children with cancer in the developed world.

World Child Cancer's vision is to see a world where every child with cancer has access to the best possible treatment and care. Their mission is to improve cancer diagnosis, treatment and care for children in low and middle income countries, tackling the global inequality in the treatment of childhood cancer.

They do this by raising funds to provide improved training for healthcare professionals, funding for drugs, improved facilities and development of childhood cancer registries. We also provide support for families, local communities and campaign to raise awareness of the issues surrounding childhood cancer.

The World Child Cancer support model is built around twinning partnerships linking hospitals between developed and developing countries. At the heart of this is the remarkable support of specialist healthcare professionals from high-income countries who volunteer their time and expertise for free to help develop locally appropriate, affordable and sustainable solutions to address the problem of childhood cancer.

Dr Lorna Renner, Paediatric Oncologist Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra said "Tackling childhood cancer in Ghana is a big challenge and we still have a lot of work to do to improve levels of diagnosis, treatment and care for childhood cancers. Our work depends on the skills and resources of a multi-disciplinary team, working together to achieve the best outcome for each patient.

The support offered by World Child Cancer and our twinning partners has been invaluable. In particular the training and sharing of expertise and knowledge has been key to improving the services we can offer children with cancer in Ghana. Our aim is to expand our services further, so that we can reach more children, improve survival rates and offer better palliative care when that is the only option."

Go Gold!
September 2015 is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and World Child Cancer, a UK based charity, is recognising this important annual event by launching a Go Gold awareness and fundraising campaign.

Why Go Gold? The Gold Ribbon is the official international symbol for Childhood Cancer and represents how precious children are. It is recognised and promoted by charities, organisations, families and friends all round the world.

Go Gold to make a difference

There are three ways to get involved in the Go Gold campaign:

A small amount goes a long way
The money raised in the September campaign, and throughout the rest of the year, goes to help treat and care for children with cancer in the developing world. Every donation, no matter how small will make a big difference; for example just £10 could provide effective pain relief for four children for a week in Malawi, £25 pays for accurate diagnosis for 10 children in Bangladesh and just £50 would provide life-saving chemotherapy drugs for a child in Ghana.

ENDS



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