The Childhood Cancer Baraza convened clinicians, caregivers, patient navigators, civil-society actors and institutional leaders at Kenyatta National Hospital to examine a difficult but actionable question: what must change so that a child’s chance of surviving cancer is not determined by how quickly a parent recognises an unusual symptom, where the family lives, or whether it can absorb the cost of repeated care?

The discussion began with a clinical truth that shaped the entire forum: childhood cancer is treatable and, in many cases, curable.

Yet that possibility is not experienced equally. Children still arrive at specialist centres after long periods of uncertainty; families move between facilities before a diagnosis is confirmed; specialist services remain concentrated in a small number of urban centres; and the direct medical bill is only one part of the cost carried by a household.

Globally, an estimated 400,000 children and adolescents aged 0 to 19 develop cancer each year. More than 80% of children with cancer are cured in high-income countries, while in many low and middle-income countries the proportion is below 30%.

The difference is not explained by biology alone. The World Health Organization identifies delayed or missed diagnosis, barriers to treatment, treatment abandonment, toxicity and relapse among the avoidable causes of death.

The Kenyan experience described at the Baraza reflected this wider survival gap. Participants spoke about persistent symptoms being treated repeatedly as common infections, the scarcity and uneven distribution of paediatric oncology expertise, incomplete financial protection, interruptions to work and family life, and the psychological weight of caring for a seriously ill child.

They also described what works: alert parents, trained frontline health workers, rapid referral, patient navigation, multidisciplinary care, shared-care networks, civil-society support and respectful communication.

The forum was held in partnership with Hope for Cancer Kids, an organisation dedicated to supporting families affected by childhood cancer.