At a time when the US is pausing much of its international aid initiatives, the World Health Organization (WHO) and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital have kicked off a programme to distribute cancer medicines to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
WHO and nonprofit St Jude have started distributing medicines in Mongolia and Uzbekistan, with further shipments planned for Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia. The six countries are part of the pilot stage of the ‘Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines’, a scheme to help provide effective and safe medicines to children living with cancer who otherwise would not have access to treatment.
These treatments are anticipated to reach around 5,000 children with cancer in the pilot countries as per WHO, with at least 30 hospitals gaining access to the treatments within this year. A further six unnamed countries have also been invited to join the platform. WHO has set a goal of reaching 50 nations in the next five to seven years, which would see the programme provide medicines for around 120,000 children with cancer.
It is estimated that 400,000 children develop cancer every year, with nearly 90% of them living in LMICs. The survival rate of these paediatric patients, where access to low-cost medicine is difficult, is less than 30%. Conversely, those in high-income countries have a survival rate of around more than 80%.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “For too long, children with cancer have lacked access to life-saving medicines.
“This unique partnership between WHO and St Jude is working to provide quality-assured cancer medicines to paediatric hospitals in low-and middle-income countries.”
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By GlobalDataSt Jude’s CEO James Downing said: “A child’s chances of surviving cancer are largely determined by where they are born, making this one of the starkest disparities in global healthcare.”
The Global Platform was launched by St Jude in 2021 to bring together governments, the pharmaceutical industry and non-governmental organisations to increase cancer medicine access.
The start of the distribution in pilot countries comes at a time when the US Government is moving away from its work with the WHO. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order detailing the country’s intent to withdraw from the organisation, citing its political sways, mishandling of Covid-19, and unfair payment demands. The US was the largest financial contributor to the WHO in 2022-2023 under former President Joe Biden, giving the agency $1.28bn.
And whilst St. Jude committed to a six-year investment to launch the Global Platform, efforts could be undermined by Trump’s cutbacks at the country’s aid organisation USAID. Life-saving supply of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis drugs to low-income countries supported by USAID have either been frozen or severely curtailed. The agency has several programmes for cancer prevention, though the nature of their future has not been disclosed.
