Childhood cancer is no death sentence
away or which keeps coming back, reducing the immunity and infection usually showing as a high temperature or hot body. It can also present as the signs and symptoms of anaemia which include difficulty in breathing, listlessness, lethargy, loss of colour especially in the hands the usual pinkness goes away. Blood cancers may present as bruising and bleeding from anywhere, bruising occurs due to low blood count and bleeding may be a result of a low platelet count.
Q: So does the bleeding stop?
A: The bleeding only stops when you treat the cancer
when you transfuse platelets. Q: So it can be confused with haemophilia? A: Yes, that is why you need to do some investigations for suspected cancer for any child who comes in with symptoms similar to the above. Q: Do you know what the prevalence of paediatric
cancer is? A: Professor Chitsike did a study of all cancers registered with the Cancer Registry of Zimbabwe. Out of all the cancers registered, about 3,8 percent were paediatric cancers. If I am to talk in terms of numbers, the total cancers registered where 46 786 out of which 1 766 were childhood cancers over a
period of 10 years. So it means about 177 childhood cancers were registered each year during that period, that is those that ended up in hospital, obviously there are some who died before they got to hospital so that an under-estimate. Some may not have sought professional medical attention and do not end up at a clinic or hospital. Some are referred to Parirenyatwa as it has the only paediatric cancer unit in Zimbabwe, but don’t make it for various reasons. Q: You mentioned that some people would not use the conventional route of seeking help from a medical hospital, what do you think constitutes the lack of health-seeking behaviour especially when it comes to children? A: Whenever there is an illness in a family, they will try to take one of three options to seek care. These options are traditional healers, faith healers while others choose to go to the clinic or hospital. For those who don’t seek hospital or clinic treatment this constitutes reasons for late delay in seeking treatment.
For questions relating to this article or cancer in general, e-mail yatina@islandhospice.co.zw