[Comment] Childhood cancer: an equity test for global health

Childhood cancer: an equity test for global health Affiliations & Notes aDepartment of Rehabilitation and Health Services, College of Health and Public Service, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA bDepartment of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA cDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ahram Canadian University, 6th of October City, Egypt dDepartment of Military and Community Medicine, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand eFunctional Cancer Genomics Laboratory, National Institute of Genomic Medicine of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico Article Info Publication History: Published April 4, 2026 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02376-1 External LinkAlso available on ScienceDirect External Link Copyright: © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. Linked Articles Download started OkThe incidence of paediatric cancers has been difficult to assess, due both to the nature of these cancers and to inadequate data availability. Globally, only 21% of the population lives in areas with population-based cancer registries, some with varying data quality or passive follow-up; 38% of the global population lives in areas with death registration.1,2 Furthermore, childhood cancers are best classified by their morphology rather than by their site, necessitating pathological review for accurate diagnosis. Consequently, there is a limited and unclear picture of the global burden of childhood cancers especially for specific subtypes. In The Lancet, Lisa M Force and collaborators of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) partly address this gap by providing updated global estimates of the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of cancer in children aged 0–19 years from 1990 to 2023.3 References 1. The Lancet Cancer registries: the bedrock of global cancer care Lancet. 2025; 405:353 2. Mikkelsen, L ∙ Phillips, DE ∙ AbouZahr, C ∙ et al. A global assessment of civil registration and vital statistics systems: monitoring data quality and progress Lancet. 2015; 386:1395-1406 3. GBD 2023 Childhood Cancer Collaborators Global burden of cancer in children and adolescents aged 0–19 years, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 Lancet. 2026; 407:1360-1373 4. Piñeros, M ∙ Mery, L ∙ Soerjomataram, I ∙ et al. Scaling up the surveillance of childhood cancer: a global roadmap J Natl Cancer Inst. 2021; 113:9-15 5. GBD 2017 Childhood Cancer Collaborators The global burden of childhood and adolescent cancer in 2017: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 Lancet Oncol. 2019; 20:1211-1225 6. Lam, CG ∙ Howard, SC ∙ Bouffet, E ∙ et al. Science and health for all children with cancer Science. 2019; 363:1182-1186 7. Geel, JA ∙ Challinor, J ∙ Ranasinghe, N ∙ et al. Pediatric cancer care in Africa: SIOP Global Mapping Program report on economic and population indicators Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2021; 68, e29345 8. Siddiqui, AK ∙ Belgaumi, AF Paediatric oncology in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR): the current state and challenges Ecancermedicalscience. 2024; 18, 1677 9. Balagadde-Kambugu, J ∙ Davidson, A ∙ Hessissen, L ∙ et al. Toward 2030: SIOP Africa adopts the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2023; 40:197-202 10. Khan, MS ∙ Al-Jadiry, MF ∙ Tarek, N ∙ et al. Pediatric oncology infrastructure and workforce training needs: a report from the Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2021; 68, e29190 11. Ortiz, R ∙ Vásquez, L ∙ Giri, B ∙ et al. Developing and sustaining high-quality care for children with cancer: the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2023; 47:e164 12. Steliarova-Foucher, E ∙ Colombet, M ∙ Ries, LAG ∙ et al. (Editors) International Incidence of Childhood Cancer International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France, Volume III. 2017 13. Sayeed, S ∙ Barnes, I ∙ Ali, R Childhood cancer incidence by ethnic group in England, 2001–2007: a descriptive epidemiological study BMC Cancer. 2017; 17:570 14. Vásquez, L ∙ Montoya, J ∙ Ugaz, C ∙ et al. ONCOPEDS: A mobile application to improve early diagnosis and timely referral in childhood cancer in a low- and middle-income country—a pilot study Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2021; 68, e28908 15. Hudson, MM ∙ Ness, KK ∙ Gurney, JG ∙ et al. Clinical ascertainment of health outcomes among adults treated for childhood cancer JAMA. 2013; 309:2371-2381 16. Bhatt, NS ∙ Goodman, P ∙ Leisenring, WM ∙ et al. Chronic health conditions and longitudinal employment in survivors of childhood cancer JAMA Netw Open. 2024; 7, e2410731