Survival rates of childhood cancer is only 30%

More and more children are being diagnosed with cancer every year. In Hyderabad, in 2017 according to the hospital-based cancer registry 5 percent of all cancer patients are children. In India every year 50,000 new cases of childhood cancer. Among childhood cancers leukemia (a form of blood cancer) has the highest incidence. Survival rates of childhood cancer in India is only 30%.
Pediatric cancers if given proper treatment have a very good prognosis as compared to adult cancers. But the problem is that in most cases the symptoms are ignored by parents and also sometimes doctors do not suspect cancer, so the diagnosis gets delayed. Treatment costs are very high and there are few government hospitals catering to a huge load of childhood cancer. It is important for parents to know that cancer in children is not common, but it’s important to have your child checked by a pediatrician if they have unusual signs or symptoms that are persistent or recurrent, such as:
• An unusual lump or swelling
• Increasing or sudden paleness and loss of energy
• Easy bruising or bleeding
• An ongoing pain in one area of the body like bones, joints, back
• Limping or easy fractures
• Unexplained fever or illness that is prolonged
• Frequent headaches (often with vomiting), change in behavior, balance, gait, enlarging head
• Sudden eye or vision changes, new squint, bulging of eyeball
• Sudden unexplained weight loss