By Hope Warren | World Child Cancer Intern
In Ghana on the 9th of April 2020 Ghana News reported thatWorld Child Cancer donated PPE and medical consumables worth over GHS 100,000 to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Children who were on treatment, and their families, were able to stay at the mothers’ hostel on the hospital site which means that theydid not come intocontact with anyone in the wider community who may have had Covid-19, and ensured the children stayed in treatment.TheIndian women’s Association provided food for the women so that none of the mothers had to go to the market for food to cook. By staying at the mothers’ hostel, it also prevented children with cancer having to travel on public transport or being in lockdown and not being able to get to the hospital for treatment.
In Ghana, World Child Cancer also supported the Day Care Unit which was once in a deplorable state to be fully renovated.
The Head of the Dietherapy has also offered to collaborate with the Paediatric Oncology Clinic to attach a dietician to the clinic, create a demo kitchen for the care givers and other relevant dietary services to improve the nutritional needs of patients. World Child Cancer looks forward to this development in 2021.
In the Philippines to help address the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood cancer services and on follow ups and referrals, as well as on the healthcare staff working to treat and care for patients, COVID-19 guidelines, and protocols at the main referral centre at SPMC Children’s Cancer Institute. We will also continue to help distributing vital medication at city borders where shared care facility staff can pick them up and provide ongoing care to their patients.
In our Bangladesh programme, childhood awareness was extremely successful, in partnership with the Lions Club. Thanks to the campaign, seven new patients were admitted and 13 children who were advised to take a test were tested positive for cancer. There has since been continued support within the community thanks to World Child Cancer’s partnership with the Lions Club.
World Child Cancer has continued to place a focus on psychological support and after a particularly hard year of 2020, we are happy to say we have helped many care workers. Our new 'Training of Trainers' psychosocial support courseis of great importance. Psychosocial Support Advisor, Megan Cruise, who initially spent a year volunteering across Ghana, Malawi and Myanmar training healthcare professionals in how to support families and how healthcare professionals can support themselves.
After a successful workshop in Cameroon in 2019, World Child Cancer managed to continue the programme in March 2020 in Vietnam and then in Malawi in July 2020. Megan hopes to roll out the training to all our programmes.
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