My Child Matters

Call for projects "My Child Matters"

Our ambition

Support the World Health Organization's (WHO) goal of achieving a minimum survival rate of 60% for all children with cancer by 2030 by ensuring access to care and training healthcare professionals.

The challenge

Every three minutes, a child dies of cancer.

The true number of children afflicted with cancer is unknown because most of are undiagnosed. Each year, an estimated 400,000 children and adolescents develop cancer.

In high-income countries, where comprehensive services are generally accessible, more than 80% of children diagnosed with cancer recover from the illness. But in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the recovery rate drops to less than 30%. For example, between 2015 and 2019, the average global 5-year childhood cancer survival rate ranged from less than 12% in Africa to 83% in North America.

Most childhood cancers can be cured with generic medicines and other forms of treatment, including surgery and radiotherapy.

Yet only 29% of low-income countries report that cancer medicines are generally available to their populations, compared to 96% of high-income countries.1

In these low-income countries: 

  • Childhood cancer is often detected too late
  • There is an insufficient number of well-trained health professionals 
  • Appropriate treatment is often unavailable or not affordable 
  • Pain management and palliative care are limited 
  • Childhood cancer is often not a health priority

1 Lancet Oncol 2018; 19: e252–66

What have we done so far?

My Child Matters

To address this inequality, the My Child Matters (MCM) program was launched in 2005 to support children with cancer and their families. The MCM program aims to improve diagnosis, access to cancer care, treatment adherence, and strengthen healthcare systems in low to middle income countries.

Impact

Since 2005, My Child Matters has provided support to 51 hospitals and NGOs in 33 resource constrained countries. MCM also supports local projects, and to date, has funded community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Programs have targeted four main challenges:

• Decentralization: Bringing childhood cancer care closer to patients’ homes (Paraguay, Honduras, Thailand, Senegal).

• Early Diagnosis: Training of healthcare profressionals to ensure the timely detection of signs and symptoms of cancer (Paraguay, Pakistan, Philippines, Honduras, Senegal).

• Palliative care: Improving the quality of life of children by reducing the suffering of children with late-stage cancers (Guatemala, Thailand, and Senegal).

• Registries: Support of childhood cancer registries to understand the  disease burden in local communities and to support advocacy for health policies that support improved cancer care for children (Colombia, Ecuador).

Our renewed objectives

Building on this My Child Matters legacy, we aim to:

• Strengthen local healthcare systems in low-to-middle income countries to support children and families living with childhood cancer  

• Raise greater awareness among policy makers to help reduce the access-to-healthcare gap between developed countries and developing countries where paediatric oncology is still emerging.

• Create opportunities for knowledge sharing by bringing countries together to exchange best practices and innovative ideas.

My Child Matters

If you are a healthcare professional based in a low- and middle-income country and are committed to preventing or treating childhood cancer with a concrete project in mind, the My Child Matters grants program could be an opportunity for your project to become a reality.

Find below the documents needed for the application.

The concept note submission deadline is January the 2nd 2023, please submit here. The other documents should allow you to anticipate the next steps if your concept note is selected by My Child Matters Expert Committee.

Foundation S has also launched an open data platform with all My Child Matters projects to support connections between all stakeholders fighting childhood cancer as well as easy access to the multidisciplinary teams assembled to fight childhood cancer. The MCM platform includes an interactive map showing all projects supported by Foundation S. The ambition is also to integrate all new projects selected for My Child Matters Program increasing the network and opportunities to collaborate and upskill the teams.