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Pediatric Radiotherapy in Low and Middle Income Countries

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Pediatric Radiation Oncology

Part of the book series: Pediatric Oncology ((PEDIATRICO))

Abstract

Communicable diseases are still the leading cause of childhood mortality in third world countries. However, as prevention and treatment of malnutrition and infectious diseases improves, global health challenges are shifting towards combating non-communicable diseases including cancer which has high rates of mortality in children (Wilimas and Ribeiro 2001). More than two-thirds of the world’s pediatric cancers are currently diagnosed in low- and middle income countries (LMIC) (Kellie and Howard 2008). The patterns of occurrence of childhood cancer in LMIC compared to high income countries (HIC) and the lack of population-based cancer registries suggest that many patients die from undiagnosed cancer and the burden of childhood cancer is under-estimated. Children diagnosed with cancer in low-income countries (LIC) continue to have a much poorer chance of survival compared to those in HIC (Fig. 21.1).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, 1365 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Natia Esiashvili M.D.

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, The Children’s Hospital of Westmead, Hawkesbury Road, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia

    Verity Ahern M.D.

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jeannette Parkes M.D. & Hester Burger

  4. Department of Radiation Oncology, Ege University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey

    Yavuz Anacak M.D.

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India

    Siddhartha Laskar M.D.

Authors
  1. Natia Esiashvili M.D.
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  2. Verity Ahern M.D.
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  3. Jeannette Parkes M.D.
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  4. Hester Burger
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  5. Yavuz Anacak M.D.
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  6. Siddhartha Laskar M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Natia Esiashvili M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Thomas E. Merchant

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Rolf-Dieter Kortmann

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Esiashvili, N., Ahern, V., Parkes, J., Burger, H., Anacak, Y., Laskar, S. (2018). Pediatric Radiotherapy in Low and Middle Income Countries. In: Merchant, T., Kortmann, RD. (eds) Pediatric Radiation Oncology. Pediatric Oncology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43545-9_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43545-9_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43544-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43545-9

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