Saving Children in Kenya from Unnecessary Pediatric Cancer Deaths

unidetified mother watches over her child who suffers from severe malaria
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 file photo showing unidetified mother watching over her child suffering from severe malaria, as other children lay nearby, in the Siaya hospital in Western Kenya. Diseases, like Malaria, compromise children's immune systems exponentially increasing death rates from pediatric cancers like Burkitt’s Lymphoma, which is treatable in the U.S. Karel Prinsloo / Associated Press
unidetified mother watches over her child who suffers from severe malaria
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 file photo showing unidetified mother watching over her child suffering from severe malaria, as other children lay nearby, in the Siaya hospital in Western Kenya. Diseases, like Malaria, compromise children's immune systems exponentially increasing death rates from pediatric cancers like Burkitt’s Lymphoma, which is treatable in the U.S. Karel Prinsloo / Associated Press

Saving Children in Kenya from Unnecessary Pediatric Cancer Deaths

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Malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV get much attention from international aid organizations, while in many places, we miss opportunities to save children from dying of diseases, like pediatric cancer. In the U.S., 80% of children survive cancer scares. In Kenya, only around 19% of children survive cancer. Chite Asirwa is an oncologist who has greatly expanded cancer treatment in Western Kenya. He‘s collaborates with Chicago-based Children’s Place International to address Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Burkitt’s Lymphoma in the region. Burkitt’s Lymphoma is a particularly virulent, but treatable form of pediatric cancer. Asirwa will tell us about plans to save more children in Kenya and Tanzania from pediatric cancer. Joining him is James McAuley, a Children’s Place International board member and pediatrician. He is a former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) country director for Zambia.