Each day, one child in Serbia is diagnosed with cancer

One child in Serbia is diagnosed with cancer every day, and one child dies every week, according to the NURDOR Association, on the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Day.

According to the Institute of Public Health, the annual number of new cases of childhood cancer in Serbia in recent years has been around 350, with childhood and adolescent cancer accounting for between 0.8 and 1.0% of all new cases of malignant disease.

As in most developing countries, almost two-thirds (63.7%) of newly diagnosed children in Serbia are under 15 years of age. The most common childhood malignancies fall into four groups: leukaemias, brain tumours, bone and joint tumours, and lymphomas.

These four malignancies account for over two-thirds (70.9%) of all childhood malignancies. On average, 43 children between the ages of 0 and 19 lose their battle with cancer each year.

As the National Association of Parents of Children with Cancer (NURDOR) told EURACTIV.rs, while these numbers are significant, what is encouraging is that childhood malignancies have a high cure rate.

“For better results and treatment success, it is most important that we have the best possible treatment conditions in healthcare facilities and that, as a society, we are open and sensitive to supporting children with cancer and their families. In both segments, there is still plenty of room for improvement in our country and society,” the association emphasises.

They stress that the real question is why Serbia still does not have a national paediatric cancer registry.

“This is something we have been pointing out for many years, and so far, we have not been informed of any significant progress in this field. If it existed, the cancer registry would be an extremely useful database on paediatric patients, diagnoses, and treatment methods, serving both statistical purposes and data tracking, as well as assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of newly diagnosed patients,” NURDOR notes.

According to the “Always with Children” association – founded in 1991 as a civic association to help children treated at the Paediatric Department of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia – more than two-thirds of the deaths from all malignant diseases (71.8%) were among children up to 15 years of age.

The most common cause of death among children up to 15 years of age is brain tumours and leukaemia, accounting for slightly more than half of the cases (51.3%). In the 15-19 age group, bone and joint tumours and leukaemias are the most frequent causes of death from malignant diseases, accounting for more than half of the cases.

“These are the current statistics, and of course, we hope that these numbers will start to decline with the advancement of medicine,” stated Ličina.

(Milena Antonijević | EURACTIV.rs)