Yangon Children’s Hospital and Mandalay Children’s Hospital have the only dedicated children’s cancer units in Myanmar.
1,000
New cases of childhood cancer expected in Myanmar each year
580
Children diagnosed with cancer each year at our programme hospitals
8
Trained paediatric oncologists in the country
12
Average number of hours it takes families to reach the hospital
Programme Information
Programme
Centre
Twinning
Centre
Programme
Leads
Twinning
Lead
Dr Robert Carr (UK), Denise Williams (UK) & Lisa Morrissey (USA)
Contact
Nweni Khaing, Programme Coordinator
Start Date
Background
Approximately 2,000 children are expected to develop cancer each year in Myanmar. Due to a lack of awareness of childhood cancer, an inability to accurately diagnose cases and the prohibitive cost of transport, the number of newly diagnosed cases is far lower than expected for the country.
In addition to this, many families take their children home early before finishing treatment because of the financial burden of treatment and long stays in hospital. There are only two centres with dedicated children’s cancer departments; Yangon Children’s Hospital and Mandalay Children’s Hospital.
Key Activities
- Training and mentoring key health staff in Myanmar’s two childhood cancer units
- Providing essential equipment and staff support
- Training healthcare professionals to recognise the early warning signs and symptoms of childhood cancer
- Providing patient transport grants
- Assisting families with the costs of transport and treatment
- Offering psychosocial support and education through counselling sessions and the hospital school
- Regular advocacy to engage policy-makers and local government
Problems
A lack of reliable childhood cancer data in Myanmar
Little or no specialist training for healthcare professionals
Poor diagnostic facilities
Late diagnosis, with children presenting with an advanced stage of disease
A lack of access or funding for chemotherapy or supportive care medicines
Basic palliative care service for children
Abandonment of treatment, often due to financial burden
Little awareness of childhood cancer among the public or healthcare professionals
Limited psycho-social care for patients, families or staff
