Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines

Many childhood-cancer hospitals, particularly in LMICs, struggle to achieve consistent access to reasonably priced, safe, effective, and standard quality medicines for their patients. Children lack access to essential curative treatments, or experience prolonged interruptions in therapy, thus increasing their risk of treatment failure and death. In 2019, governments in 29% of LICs and 64% of lower-middle-income countries consistently reported the unavailability of cancer medicines to the general population.

Each year approximately 400 000 children develop cancer, 80% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While survival in high income countries is more than 80%, only 10-30% of children diagnosed with cancer in LMICs survive.

One of the major obstacles to achieve survival for children with cancer remains, namely, access to childhood cancer medicines. Many childhood cancer hospitals, particularly in LMICs, struggle to achieve consistent access to reasonably priced, safe, effective, and standard quality medicines for their patients. There has been a consistent and clear request from stakeholders in childhood cancer control for a transformative solution to this problem.

It is on this context, that on 13 December 2021, St Jude and WHO announced plans to establish the Global Platform for Access to Childhood-Cancer Medicines (hereafter “the Platform”) to dramatically increase access to childhood-cancer medicines around the world. The Platform, the first of its kind, aims to facilitate the provision of safe and effective cancer medicines to approximately 120 000 children in LMICs by 2027.

The Platform represents a US $200 million commitment from St. Jude to support a six- year collaboration among St. Jude, the United Nations Children's Programme (UNICEF), WHO and other partners on increasing access to essencial cancer medicines fo all children, with a primary focus on those living in LMICs.

The Platform is guided by principles of:

1. country leadership;
2. and integration and synergy

Participating countries will be invited to co- create an implementation strategy with a clear delineation of roles and responsabilities, according to readiness, as determined by a situation analysis and capacity- building requirements.