Dhaka: A rally was organized at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) campus on Monday with the view to raise people’s awareness about pediatric cancer.

‘World Child Cancer’, an international organization funded by UK Aid, organized the rally on the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

BSMMU vice-chancellor Prof Kamrul Hasan Khan, chairman of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology department Prof Yakub Jamal and Head of Operations of World Child Cancer Liz Burns participated in the rally.

Experts predict cancer to be an increasingly important cause of mortality in Bangladesh in the next few decades.

There are about 1.3 to 1.5 million cancer patients in Bangladesh, with about 200,000 patients newly diagnosed with cancer every year, they added.

According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), death from cancer in Bangladesh was 7.5 percent in 2005 and it will be increased up to 13 percent in 2030.

They, however, also said childhood cancer, in fact, can be cured even in resource-poor countries.

Experts also said it was possible to save lives of 50-60 percent of children with relatively simple and inexpensive drugs and procedures that have been known to doctors for decades.

BDST: 2007 HRS, SEP 21, 2015
MR/SR