Child survival rates up

FOUR in five children who get cancer will survive for at least a decade, figures show.

Under two in three (63.7 per cent) English under-14s diagnosed with cancer in 1990 could expect to live for ten years after diagnosis.

But ten-year survival for youngsters diagnosed in 2015 is predicted to be 82.4 per cent, experimental data from the Office for National Statistics shows. It said increases in survival are likely to be because of improvements in treatment and care.

Dany Bell, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘It’s fantastic that more children are surviving cancer.

‘But it is vital that they get the support they need during and after their treatment, potentially for many years.’

The most common cancers in children are leukaemia and brain cancer.