Global pediatric radiation therapy in resource-limited settings

Abstract

This report provides a summary of the global burden of childhood cancer morbidity and mortality, which disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries as well as low- and middle-income communities within high-income countries. We review past successes and current challenges to improving clinical pediatric radiotherapy, education, and research in these regions. The Pediatric Radiation Oncology Society Taskforce in Low- and Middle-Income Countries recently outlined specific aims: (a) to increase access and quality of radiotherapy for children and adolescents afflicted with cancer; (b) to enumerate, engage, and educate a global community of providers of childhood and adolescent radiotherapy; and (c) to create evidence establishing the outcomes of setting-specific treatment standards of care when first-world standards are not achievable. This report will improve awareness of these disparities and promote attempts to correct them.