Childhood cancer deaths: A new global analysis published in The Lancet has found that childhood cancer continues to fall hardest on poorer countries, with 94 per cent of deaths and 85 per cent of new cases occurring in low- and middle-income nations. The findings underline how uneven access to diagnosis, treatment and cancer care still is across the world.
The study, based on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, estimated that there were around 377,000 new childhood cancer cases globally in 2023, leading to roughly 144,000 deaths.
Also Read | Cancer treatment access rises under Ayushman Bharat, but allocation falls far short
Among individual countries, India recorded an estimated 17,000 childhood cancer deaths in 2023, the highest in the analysis, followed by China with 16,000. Nigeria and Pakistan were estimated to have reported about 9,000 deaths each.
Researchers involved in the study said that while childhood cancer deaths worldwide have fallen by about 27 per cent since 1990, the trend has not been uniform. In Africa, deaths linked to childhood cancers rose by 55.6 per cent over the same period, pointing to a widening gap in outcomes between richer and poorer regions.
The report said childhood cancer was the eighth leading cause of death among children globally and remains a major contributor to the overall disease burden in children. Its impact, the authors noted, is heavily concentrated in places with weaker health systems and limited resources.
In countries with a low-middle sociodemographic index, including India, childhood cancer was also found to be the eleventh largest contributor to global cancer deaths across all age groups in 2023. It ranked as the tenth highest contributor to global child disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs, a measure that reflects years of healthy life lost because of illness, disability or early death.
The researchers said the burden is sharply skewed toward lower-income settings. According to the study, 85.1 per cent of incident childhood cancer cases, 94.1 per cent of deaths, and 94.1 per cent of DALYs were recorded in low-, lower-middle- and upper-middle-income countries.
The deadliest childhood cancer worldwide remained leukaemia, which was linked to around 45,900 deaths in 2023. It was followed by brain and nervous system cancers, responsible for about 23,200 deaths, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which caused around 15,200 deaths.
Lead author Lisa Force of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine said improvements seen in high-income countries have not been shared equally. She noted that most children with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, where delays in diagnosis, limited access to essential treatment and broader health-system barriers continue to affect survival.
The study said better outcomes will depend on stronger investment in cancer care systems, especially in poorer countries. That includes improving referral pathways for earlier diagnosis, training healthcare workers, expanding access to chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, and strengthening cancer registration and monitoring systems.