Leukaemia leading cancer among children in UAE
Doctor says multiple new chemotherapy drugs hold promise of remission in leukaemia
Three-year-old Euale Mengsitu Beshir is a poster child for international day of childhood cancer which is being observed today.
A year ago, Beshir lost his appetite and had high fever and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. He underwent aggressive chemotherapy protocol at the oncology centre of Dubai Hospital with Al Jalila Foundation sponsoring his treatment under their A’waen programme. Beshir’s leukaemia is in remission and his parents are thrilled with the outcome.
According to studies, cancer is the third leading cause of death in the UAE following heart disease and accidents. Twelve people are diagnosed with cancer every day or nearly 4,400 cases every year. Among all cancer cases in the UAE, approximately 9.5 per cent are paediatric cancer.
Leukaemia accounts for almost one in every three cancer cases in children here and the World Health Organisation predicts a rise in childhood cancers in the country.
Dr Abdul Rahman Mohammad Saleh Al Jasmi, an authority on childhood cancer in the UAE and CEO of Dubai Hospital where Beshir was treated, told
Gulf News: “In the UAE, almost 40 new cases of childhood cancers per million are being diagnosed every month and blood cancers in children have the highest incidence. These include both acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and acute myeloid leukaemia.”
Dr Al Jasmi advised parents to go in for early diagnosis of anything abnormal they might see in their children. “If a child is listless, has fever that goes undiagnosed for long, parents must immediately go for second and third line of diagnosis and consult specialists. In the eighties nearly 80 per cent children diagnosed with leukaemia succumbed to it but the new chemotherapy protocol has eight drugs instead of two and has been very successful in getting children into remission.”