Improve cancer care for 250 children in Malawi

We visited the project at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Malawi last month and were really pleased to see that progress continues to be made. 

The ward is looking lovely and the children are very well looked after - they have a full-time play lady called Betty who shares the toys amongst the children and helps to entertain them during their long hospital stay.

We also had the pleasure of taking many donated gifts out to the patients on the ward - some fantastic blankets knitted especially for the children along with some new toys for them to play with. Please visit our website and social media sites to see the pictures!

It was great to see how well the team on the ward works to improve the lives of these children, and how they are improving survival rates year-on-year.

Soon the team are planning on implementing a higher intensity protocol to be able to treat more patients with leukemia, with better outcomes. There are also further training sessions planned for the nurses and other staff to continue improving their knowledge and developing their careers.

Next year we are hoping to continue working in Malawi for a new project phase and to support the local team to further develop the services for children with cancer in the country.

THANK YOU to all of our amazing supporters for allowing us to continue helping these children in Malawi!

Links:

• Facebook photo albums

Progress at our childhood cancer project in Malawi continues to go very well.

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of our supporters who have donated towards this project!!

Our project at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre is now entering its 5^th year of funding from the charity and so much has been achieved so far but we are expecting great progress in this year as well.

Some highlights from the last few months at the project are:

• Diagnosis speeds continue to decrease through the review of cases by doctors at the twinning centres
• The unit are using more varied chemotherapy treatments to be able to treat a wider variety of cancers
• Locally appropriate protocols have been developed for easily treatable cancers which will allow survival rates to continue increasing
• Collaboration with other sub-Saharan Africa centres in the development of policy and capacity building
• The unit has a full time play therapist to help the patients
• Nutritional support is provided to all children and mothers receive food to cook on the weekends
• Awareness in the community continues with mothers being given posters to take home to their village chiefs
• There is a new support group and activities have been taking place in February for World Cancer Day
• A needs assessment visit will take place in April to investigate the potential of extending the project across the country

We hope that you are able to continue supporting our work and helping us improve the lives of children with cancer.

It is thanks to your amazing support that all of these achievements have taken place at our project in Malawi so once again - THANK YOU!!

Links:

• Malawi Project
• Website

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of our supporters who have donated towards this project!!

Your amazing support has allowed us to reach our first target of $10,000 raised to help children with cancer in Malawi. Thanks to your generosity we have now been able to increase our target to $15,000 which means that if any supporters are still interested in making a donation, this will still go towards improving the lives of children with cancer in Malawi.

Our project in the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre has made amazing progress over the last 18 months thanks to the amazing donations we have received.

Some highlights from the project include:

• Increase in survival rates for children with Burkitt lymphoma from 48% to over 60%
• Increase in survival rates for children with Wilm's tumour from 30% to over 46%
• A local lead doctor has been identified for succession and funded for specialist training
• Regular training and mentoring of staff at the project
• Costs of food and transport has been subsidised for the patients
• A poster awareness campaign has been implemented
• Outreach visits into the community are made on motorbike by a clinical officer
• Speed of diagnosis has been improved with the use of a microscope camera

We hope that you are able to continue supporting our work and helping us improve the lives of children with cancer.

It is thanks to your amazing support that all of these achievements have taken place at our project in Malawi so once again - THANK YOU!!

Links:

• Our new website

The annual International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) conference took place in London in October and was attended by delegates from all over the world including healthcare professionals, policy makers and support group members. During the event both the project leader Professor Elizabeth Molyneux and Dr Trijn Israels from one of the twinning partner hospitals spoke about the project at several different sessions and were received very well by those attending.

The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital has seen over 850 cases of childhood cancer since the start of the project in January 2009. The numbers of patients seen are increasing every year which is a sign of the improving awareness of childhood cancer in Malawi. There is ongoing training for doctors and nurses to improve their confidence and knowledge.

A microscope camera and computer are now being used at the project which has significantly increased the speed of diagnosis. The Clinical Field Officer is also continuing with follow-up visits into the community.

We are delighted with how the project is progressing and would like to thank all our Global Giving supporters.  

Thank-you! 

Links:

• http://www.worldchildcancer.org

Over the last three months there have been three training visits by healthcare professionals from the UK and Amsterdam.   Dr Simon Bailey and Nurse Hannah Di-Lullo from Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary visited in May to provide training courses for doctors and nurses.  Dr Trijn Israels, from Amsterdam, visited in June and provided further training for local staff and mentoring for the project leader.  We are very grateful to Simon, Hannah and Trijn for participating in these visits.

Survival rates for Burkitts lymphoma are now 60% and for Wilm tumor patients they are 48%.  Survival for acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients is 15% from a base of zero less than two years ago. 

The project leader, Professor Liz Molyneux, attended the SIOP Africa conference in Cape Town in March and spoke to delegates about the project.  

We are delighted with how the project is progressing and would like to thank all our Global Giving supporters.  

Thank-you!