According to CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa) cancers in children tend to be different from those found in adults. Cancer in children most often occurs in developing cells like bone marrow, blood, kidneys and nervous system tissues. Life-threatening blood disorders include aplastic anaemia, thalassaemia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.
According to South Africa’s National Cancer Registry (NCR) 2012 statistics these cancers are most prevalent in South African children:
Top five cancers in South African boys from 0 to 19 years of age
Top five cancers in South African girls from 0 to 19 years of age
Top five cancers in children - SACCSG
According to the most recent South African Children’s Cancer Study Group (SACCSG) registry statistics for 2009 to 2013 (referred to by CHOC), the five most common childhood cancers in South Africa are:
Even though the above are not split between boys and girls, we see the same cancers featuring in these statistics as we see in the statistics from NCR.
According to CHOC, leukaemia comprises 25.4% of all cancers, which is similar to rates in other countries. In developed countries, brain tumours make up another 25% whilst in South Africa statistics show that they only make up 13.4%. This discrepancy is thought to be due to under-diagnosis, especially in rural and smaller hospitals.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Leukaemia constitutes about one third of all childhood cancers. The other most common malignancies are lymphomas and tumours of the central nervous system.
There are also several tumour types that occur almost exclusively in children:
In high-income countries, approximately 80% of children with cancer survive after they have been diagnosed with cancer. The prognosis is much lower for children diagnosed with cancer in low- and middle-income countries, possibly due to: