WHO renews pledge to support childhood cancer care in Pakistan
State-run outlets report the commitment but no funding or programme details have been released.
The World Health Organization has renewed its commitment to supporting Pakistan in the care of children with cancer, according to reports by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) and Radio Pakistan.
The two state-run outlets published the announcement on 25 September. APP said the WHO had reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Pakistan in improving childhood cancer care. Radio Pakistan used slightly different wording, saying the WHO had renewed its commitment to supporting Pakistan in the fight against childhood cancer. The substance of the two reports was the same.
Neither outlet provided details of what the renewed commitment would involve. There was no information on additional funding, the procurement of chemotherapy drugs or other medicines, the training of oncologists and nurses, or the upgrading of paediatric cancer wards.
The reports also did not name the WHO official responsible for the announcement or say where it was made. No date was given for when the renewed commitment would take effect, and no targets or indicators were mentioned.
Readers seeking figures on childhood cancer in Pakistan will not find them in either report. Neither APP nor Radio Pakistan included data on the number of children diagnosed each year, survival rates, or the capacity of existing treatment centres.
It was also unclear whether the renewed commitment was linked to a new agreement or was a restatement of existing WHO support to Pakistan's health authorities. APP is the country's official news agency and Radio Pakistan is the state broadcaster; both carried the announcement without separate comment from WHO officials or Pakistan's Ministry of National Health Services.
Further details were not immediately available.
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