Rawad Rihani, Sima Jeha, Zeena Salman, Shrouq Amer, Ibrahim Qaddoumi, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, Asem Mansour
{"title":"Restoring health and hope to displaced Gaza children with malignant disease at a cancer centre in Jordan.","authors":"Rawad Rihani, Sima Jeha, Zeena Salman, Shrouq Amer, Ibrahim Qaddoumi, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, Asem Mansour","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.4.243","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Gaza children with cancer have faced critical delays in diagnosis and treatment due to the conflict, leading to late-stage presentation.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To assess the impact of disruptions on treatment outcome for Gaza children with cancer treated at King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We collected and analysed data from Gaza children aged 0-21 years with malignant disease, who were evacuated and received treatment at King Hussein Cancer Center between October 2023 and October 2024. We used the Kaplan-Meier survival estimates to analyse their overall survival rate.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fifty-one Gaza children received treatment for cancer at the centre during the study period; median age 8.2 years, 66.7% male. Of the cases, 25.5% were newly diagnosed, 11.8% were relapsed and 62.7% had been previously treated in Gaza; 39.2% had leukaemia and 21.6% had solid tumours. Their referral had been delayed by 3-4 months, and at presentation, 51% exhibited psychological distress and 27.5% were underweight. After 4 months of follow-up, 96% survived.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Most of the children experienced delays in diagnosis, referral and treatment and these impacted their treatment outcomes. Well-coordinated strategies such as streamlined referral systems, cross-border collaborations and timely medical evacuations through protected humanitarian corridors are crucial to provide life-saving care for paediatric cancer patients in Gaza and similar conflict zones.</p>","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 4","pages":"243-249"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.4.243","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Gaza children with cancer have faced critical delays in diagnosis and treatment due to the conflict, leading to late-stage presentation.
Aim: To assess the impact of disruptions on treatment outcome for Gaza children with cancer treated at King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan.
Methods: We collected and analysed data from Gaza children aged 0-21 years with malignant disease, who were evacuated and received treatment at King Hussein Cancer Center between October 2023 and October 2024. We used the Kaplan-Meier survival estimates to analyse their overall survival rate.
Results: Fifty-one Gaza children received treatment for cancer at the centre during the study period; median age 8.2 years, 66.7% male. Of the cases, 25.5% were newly diagnosed, 11.8% were relapsed and 62.7% had been previously treated in Gaza; 39.2% had leukaemia and 21.6% had solid tumours. Their referral had been delayed by 3-4 months, and at presentation, 51% exhibited psychological distress and 27.5% were underweight. After 4 months of follow-up, 96% survived.
Conclusion: Most of the children experienced delays in diagnosis, referral and treatment and these impacted their treatment outcomes. Well-coordinated strategies such as streamlined referral systems, cross-border collaborations and timely medical evacuations through protected humanitarian corridors are crucial to provide life-saving care for paediatric cancer patients in Gaza and similar conflict zones.
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