On International Childhood Cancer Day 2026, PAHO highlighted significant progress in childhood cancer care across the Americas, emphasizing improvements in early diagnosis, access to life-saving medicines, and regional cooperation. These advances, achieved through collaboration with national Ministries of Health and partners such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, have strengthened care systems, improved patient outcomes, and provided open-access technical resources to support healthcare teams across the region.
Countries including Peru and Panama have made notable gains in early diagnosis. In Peru, the average time to diagnose children and adolescents with cancer dropped from 107 to 57 days, enabling faster access to treatment. Panama achieved a 50% reduction in cases diagnosed at advanced stages, reflecting the impact of strengthened policies, clinical guidance, referral pathways, and community awareness campaigns as part of the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. Similar efforts continue throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to standardize early detection and referral mechanisms.
Timely access to essential medicines has also expanded. Since February 2025, over 300 children in Ecuador have received treatment through the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines, a joint initiative by WHO, St. Jude, PAHO, and UNICEF. By 2026, the program aims to double the number of hospitals benefiting from the platform, reaching ten hospitals across Ecuador and El Salvador with investments exceeding $3.3 million, covering more than 70 medicines and formulations for chemotherapy and supportive care. The initiative has strengthened supply chains, integrated essential cancer medicines into national benefits packages, and provided training for healthcare professionals to ensure continuity and quality of care.
Open-access resources developed through regional cooperation further support healthcare providers. Seventeen regional clinical guidelines and technical resources are now freely available via the CureAll Americas platform in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. These resources cover the full spectrum of childhood cancer care, including diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, nutrition, psychosocial support, and survivorship care, enabling countries to adapt evidence-based tools to their local healthcare systems.
The Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines, established in 2021, complements the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer by ensuring uninterrupted supply of quality-assured medicines, supporting demand consolidation, guiding treatment standards, and helping countries build systems to track effective care. Currently, the platform works with 12 countries, including Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Jordan, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Zambia, aiming to provide medicines for approximately 120,000 children in low- and middle-income countries over the next five to seven years.
These coordinated efforts demonstrate measurable progress in childhood cancer care, highlighting the critical role of regional cooperation, technical support, and equitable access to medicines in improving survival and quality of life for children and adolescents with cancer.
