Skip to main content

Global Challenges in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Brain Tumors in Children

Abstract

Eighty-five percent of the world’s children live in areas of limited resources. The poorest continent, Africa, accounts for 23% of pediatric disease but only employs 1.3% of the world’s health workers. Pediatric neuro-oncology requires highly specialized teams, and in countries where there are inadequate resources for even the most common diseases, such as infections, malnutrition, and HIV-related disease, it is understandable that children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors are not a priority.

“The rise of cancer in less affluent countries is an impending disaster” Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director General 2008.

“There is never nothing we can do” Professor Elizabeth Molyneux OBE, Professor of Pediatrics, Blantyre, Malawi 2010

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abdelkhalek E, Sherief L, Kamal N, Soliman R (2014) Factors associated with delayed cancer diagnosis in Egyptian children. Clin Med Insights Pediatr 8:39–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arora RS, Pizer B, Eden T (2010) Understanding refusal and abandonment in the treatment of childhood cancer. Indian Pediatr 47:1005–1010

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barr RD (1994) The challenge of childhood cancer in the developing world. East Afr Med J 71:223–225

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barr R, Antillon F, Agarwal B, Mehta P, Ribeiro R (2011) Pediatric oncology in countries with limited resources. In: Pizzo PA, Poplack DG (eds) Principles and practice of pediatric oncology. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 1463–1473

    Google Scholar 

  • Barr RD, Antillon Klussmann F, Baez F, Bonilla M, Moreno B, Navarrete M, Nieves R, Pena A, Conter V, De Alarcon P, Howard SC, Ribeiro RC, Rodriguez-Galindo C, Valsecchi MG, Biondi A, Velez G, Tognoni G, Cavalli F, Masera G (2014) Asociacion de Hemato-Oncologia Pediatrica de Centro America (AHOPCA): a model for sustainable development in pediatric oncology. Pediatr Blood Cancer 61:345–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey P, Fudzulani R, Scholfield D, Chagaluka G, Tomoka T, Liombe G, Banda K, Wadehra V, Samarasinghe S, Molyneux EM, Bailey S (2014) Remote and rapid pathological diagnosis in a resource challenged unit. J Clin Pathol 67:540–543

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dang-Tan T, Franco EL, Dang-Tan T, Franco EL (2007) Diagnosis delays in childhood cancer: a review. Cancer 110:703–713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferlay J, Bray F, Pisani P, Parkin DM (2004) Cancer incidence. Mortality and prevalence worldwide. ARC Press, Lyon

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer MK, Kayembe MK, Scheer AJ, Introcaso CE, Binder SW, Kovarik CL (2011) Establishing telepathology in Africa: lessons from Botswana. [letter]. J Am Acad Dermatol 64(5):986–987

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich P, Lam CG, Itriago E, Perez R, Ribeiro RC, Arora RS (2015) Magnitude of treatment abandonment in childhood cancer. PLoS One 10:e0135230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gimbel DC, Sohani AR, Prasad Busarla SV, Kirimi JM, Sayed S, Okiro P, Nazarian RM (2012) A static-image telepathology system for dermatopathology consultation in East Africa: the Massachusetts General Hospital Experience. J Am Acad Dermatol 67:997–1007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottardo NG, Hansford JR, McGlade JP, Alvaro F, Ashley DM, Bailey S, Baker DL, Bourdeaut F, Cho YJ, Clay M, Clifford SC, Cohn RJ, Cole CH, Dallas PB, Downie P, Doz F, Ellison DW, Endersby R, Fisher PG, Hassall T, Heath JA, Hii HL, Jones DT, Junckerstorff R, Kellie S, Kool M, Kotecha RS, Lichter P, Laughton SJ, Lee S, McCowage G, Northcott PA, Olson JM, Packer RJ, Pfister SM, Pietsch T, Pizer B, Pomeroy SL, Remke M, Robinson GW, Rutkowski S, Schoep T, Shelat AA, Stewart CF, Sullivan M, Taylor MD, Wainwright B, Walwyn T, Weiss WA, Williamson D, Gajjar A (2014) Medulloblastoma down under 2013: a report from the third annual meeting of the International Medulloblastoma Working Group. Acta Neuropathol 127:189–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hadley LG, Rouma BS, Saad-Eldin Y (2012) Challenge of pediatric oncology in Africa. Semin Pediatr Surg 21:136–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard SC, Ribeiro RC, Pui CH (2005) Strategies to improve outcomes of children with cancer in low-income countries. Eur J Cancer 41:1584–1587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard SC, Metzger ML, Wilimas JA, Quintana Y, Pui CH, Robison LL, Ribeiro RC (2008) Childhood cancer epidemiology in low-income countries. Cancer 112:461–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IAEA (n.d.) Availability of radiation therapy. https://dirac.iaea.org/Query/Map2?mapld=0

  • Israëls T, Chirambo C, Caron HN, Molyneux EM (2008) Nutritional status at admission of children with cancer in Malawi. Pediatr Blood Cancer 51:626–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S (2000) Indias government promotes traditional health practices. Lancet 355:1252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laughton SJ, Merchant TE, Sklar CA, Kun LE, Fouladi M, Broniscer A, Morris EB, Sanders RP, Krasin MJ, Shelso J, Xiong Z, Wallace D, Gajjar A (2008) Endocrine outcomes for children with embryonal brain tumors after risk-adapted craniospinal and conformal primary-site irradiation and high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell rescue on the SJMB-96 trial. J Clin Oncol 26:1112–1118

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Magrath I, Shanta V, Advani S, Adde M, Arya LS, Banavali S, Bhargava M, Bhatia K, Gutiérrez M, Liewehr D, Pai S, Sagar TG, Venzon D, Raina V (2005) Treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in countries with limited resources; lessons from use of a single protocol in India over a twenty year period [corrected]. Eur J Cancer 41:1570–1583

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Magrath I, Steliarova-Foucher E, Epelman S, Ribeiro RC, Harif M, Li CK, Kebudi R, Macfarlane SD, Howard SC (2013) Paediatric cancer in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet Oncol 14:e104–e116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitra D, Kampondeni S, Mallewa M, Knight T, Skinner R, Banda K, Israels T, Molyneux E, Bailey S (2012) Central nervous system lesions in Malawian children: identifying the treatable. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 106:567–569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer SL, Armstrong C, Onar-Thomas A, Wu S, Wallace D, Bonner MJ, Schreiber J, Swain M, Chapieski L, Mabbott D, Knight S, Boyle R, Gajjar A (2013) Processing speed, attention, and working memory after treatment for medulloblastoma: an international, prospective, and longitudinal study. J Clin Oncol 31:3494–3500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkes J, Hendricks M, Ssenyonga P, Mugamba J, Molyneux E, Schouten-van Meeteren A, Qaddoumi I, Fieggen G, Luna-Fineman S, Howard S, Mitra D, Bouffet E, Davidson A, Bailey S (2015) SIOP PODC adapted treatment recommendations for standard-risk medulloblastoma in low and middle income settings. Pediatr Blood Cancer 62:553–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qaddoumi I, Musharbash A, Elayyan M, Mansour A, Al-Hussaini M, Drake J, Swaidan M, Bartels U, Bouffet E (2008) Closing the survival gap: implementation of medulloblastoma protocols in a low-income country through a twinning program. Int J Cancer 122:1203–1206

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quintana Y, Patel AN, Arreola M, Antillon FG, Ribeiro RC, Howard SC (2013) POND4Kids: a global web-based database for pediatric hematology and oncology outcome evaluation and collaboration. Stud Health Technol Inform 183:251–256

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro RC (2012) Improving survival of children with cancer worldwide: the St. Jude International Outreach Program approach. Stud Health Technol Inform 172:9–13

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro RC, Steliarova-Foucher E, Magrath I, Lemerle J, Eden T, Forget C, Mortara I, Tabah-Fisch I, Divino JJ, Miklavec T, Howard SC, Cavalli F (2008) Baseline status of paediatric oncology care in ten low-income or mid-income countries receiving My Child Matters support: a descriptive study. Lancet Oncol 9:721–729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivera-Luna R, Shalkow-Klincovstein J, Velasco-Hidalgo L, Cárdenas-Cardós R, Zapata-Tarrés M, Olaya-Vargas A, Aguilar-Ortiz MR, Altamirano-Alvarez E, Correa-Gonzalez C, Sánchez-Zubieta F, Pantoja-Guillen F (2014) Descriptive epidemiology in Mexican children with cancer under an open national public health insurance program. BMC Cancer 14:790

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salaverria C, Rossell N, Hernandez A, Fuentes Alabi S, Vasquez R, Bonilla M, Lam CG, Ribeiro RC (2015) Interventions targeting absences increase adherence and reduce abandonment of childhood cancer treatment in El Salvador. Pediatr Blood Cancer 62:1609–1615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sirintrapun SJ, Cimic A (2012) Dynamic nonrobotic telemicroscopy via skype: A cost effective solution to teleconsultation. J Pathol Inform 3:28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stefan DC, Siemonsma F (2011) Delay and causes of delay in the diagnosis of childhood cancer in Africa. Pediatr Blood Cancer 56:80–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The World Bank (2015a) World Development Indicators. GNI per capita, Atlas method. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD

  • The World Bank (2015b) World Development Indicators. Health expenditure per capita (US $). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PCAP

  • Ullrich NJ, Robertson R, Kinnamon DD, Scott RM, Kieran MW, Turner CD, Chi SN, Goumnerova L, Proctor M, Tarbell NJ, Marcus KJ, Pomeroy SL (2007) Moyamoya following cranial irradiation for primary brain tumors in children. Neurology 68:932–938

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Yuan XJ, Jiang MW, Wang LF (2015) Clinical characteristics and abandonment and outcome of treatment in 67 Chinese children with medulloblastoma. J Neurosurg Pediatr:1–8

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon Bailey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Bailey, S., Parkes, J., Davidson, A. (2018). Global Challenges in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. In: Gajjar, A., Reaman, G., Racadio, J., Smith, F. (eds) Brain Tumors in Children. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43205-2_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43205-2_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43203-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43205-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics