Being an under-developed country, millions of cancer cases are diagnosed every year in Pakistan and thousands of them are children. There is little awareness regarding the risks and causes of cancer in children.
8,000 children under the age of 18 are diagnosed with cancer annually in Pakistan. Almost half of the children have no access to proper treatment and a large number of children are not able to complete their ongoing treatment. There are only 13 pediatric cancer care centers in the country.
An increasing number of cancers is spreading among children in low-income and middle-income countries like Pakistan. According to the survey, the increasing rate of cancer among children is mainly due to the polluted environmental conditions, unhygienic living conditions, malnourishment and, the consumption of unsafe water. It was reported that most of the cases develop in children are due to genetic disorders.
According to news, there is no public sector cancer treatment facility in the whole Sindh or Baluchistan. This means the government is least concerned about the health of people in the country. Pakistan is among those under-developed countries which have very little facilities to cure and treat cancer in children as compared to the rest of the countries that are trying hard in vanishing out cancer from their countries. Pakistan cures only 15 percent of children and developed countries cure to the 75 percent.
70 percent of diseases can be treated easily if the diseases are diagnosed at an early age and early diagnosis can help reduce childhood cancer mortality rate. There is an acute shortage of specialists, physicians, nurses, and paramedical staff to attend cancer suffering patients. Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and, Multan have established the medical health sectors where cancer is also treated well but, the problem remains the same. Children do not get diagnosed at an early stage because of the lack of awareness.
Leukemia, brain and spinal cord tumors, Wilms tumor, neuroblastoma, lymphoma, retinoblastoma, and bone cancer are the most commonly occurring cancers in children. The good thing happened in the country last year was that 500 children with different kinds of cancers have treated successfully without any cost.
Leukemia is the most common type of cancer found in children of Pakistan. Leukemia is the cancer of the blood or bone marrow. The blood cells are produced by the bone marrow. Leukemia develops when there is a problem with blood cell production. It usually affects the leukocytes or white blood cells. The deficiency of blood can be fulfilled but it becomes fatal when it takes the face of leukemia. Unfortunately, blood deficiency is not diagnosed because most of the people find it no big issue. The people of age 3-5 years are more likely to develop leukemia.
Children are the future of the country and they should not be ignored. There are some steps to take to prevent childhood cancer like don’t use tobacco around your kids, protect them from sunburns, feed them a healthy diet with lots of fiber, fruits, and vegetables, keep them at healthy body weight, and provide them with a hygienic environment to let them live a healthy and happy life.
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