The impact of armed conflict on global patterns of childhood cancer

Abstract

Section snippets

Incidence of cancer and related mortality in children in conflict zones

Children living in countries with armed conflict account for an increasing proportion of global paediatric cancer deaths over the past 30 years. This pattern has resulted from both a growing number of children living in countries with conflict over time and higher cancer mortality rates in countries in conflict compared with countries not in conflict. During the past three decades, approximately half of the children (aged 0–19 years) around the world lived in countries experiencing armed

Great divergence in global childhood cancer mortality

Many countries have successfully reduced mortality rates over recent decades, leading to aspirational projections of a great convergence in mortality rates for children.¹⁰ However, we found that for children with cancer in conflict settings, there is a great divergence, with higher cancer mortality rates and an increasing proportion of global cancer deaths for children in countries with armed conflict compared with countries without conflict.¹¹ Without urgent action, this trend suggests that as

Limitations

There are several limitations to this study. First, our analysis risks stability bias: most sampling data in conflict settings come from the more stable and accessible regions, and the least data from where there is poor access to information, which can lead to falsely lowered measured levels of the impact of conflict on health services.¹⁵ Second, missing data might have biased our findings. In our study, 17·6% of the countries had missing conflict data in 1990, although this represented only

Conclusion

Countries experiencing armed conflict account for a large and increasing proportion of all global cancer cases and deaths among children. Continued efforts to reduce paediatric cancer mortality worldwide must confront the complex challenges inherent in providing health services in areas of armed conflict. Reaching the 60% survival goal for all children with cancer globally as set forth by the GICC cannot be achieved without improving childhood cancer care in areas of armed conflict. To meet

Declaration of interests

We declare no competing interests.