新的伙伴关系将使原子能机构能够更好地帮助中低收入国家提供更多早期发现和治疗儿科癌症的机会。
新的伙伴关系将使原子能机构能够更好地帮助中低收入国家提供更多早期发现和治疗儿科癌症的机会。根据今天与儿童癌症国际组织签署的合作协议，儿童癌症国际组织和原子能机构将携手合作，为在儿科工作的专业人员提供专业培训，提高认识并调动资源，为原子能机构成员国的癌症儿童提供帮助。
儿童癌症国际组织汇集了93个国家中代表父母和年轻癌症幸存者的188个组织，致力于推广最佳实践，开发有效的创新方法并提供具有成本效益的解决方案，以减少儿童癌症造成的死亡。该组织在包括埃塞俄比亚、加纳和缅甸在内的若干国家执行项目，以解决接受治疗的儿童的保健需求，对儿科肿瘤学进修人员决进行培训，建立可持续运行的设施，并建立家长支持团体。
每年在14岁以下的儿童中诊断出超过30万例癌症病例，并且病例数量呈上升趋势。《柳叶刀》2015年的一份报告估计，世界欠发达地区的儿童生存率可低至30％，而高收入国家则高于80％。.
原子能机构副总干事兼技术合作司司长杨大助说：“这项安排建立了防治儿科癌症方面的合作关系，这将增加发展中国家癌症儿童获得放射治疗服务的机会。”他补充说：“这种伙伴关系将进一步支持我们的成员国对日益增长的癌症服务和专业技能需求做出响应。”
原子能机构一直与成员国密切合作制订和实施各项计划，以便将辐射医学纳入其中，作为从预防和早期发现到治疗的多学科抗癌方案的一部分。除了培训保健专业人员之外，原子能机构还通过传授质子疗法等先进技术为质量控制措施和采购儿科癌症治疗设备作出贡献，并制订适用于接受辐射的患者（包括儿童）的安全和防护导则。
由于原子能机构在全球范围内参与癌症诊断和治疗，儿童癌症国际组织希望这一伙伴关系能够为全球年轻患者及其家属带来惠益，儿童癌症国际组织总裁鲁思·霍夫曼说。她说：“我们的目标是让所有患有癌症的儿童和青少年获得最佳水平护理，并获得接受诊断服务的机会”。“我们可以在原子能机构的帮助下实现这一目标。”
“This arrangement establishes a collaboration in the fight against paediatric cancer which will increase access to radiotherapy services for children with cancer in developing countries,” said Dazhu Yang, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation. “This partnership will further support our Member States as they respond to the increasing demands for cancer service and specialised skills,” he added.
The IAEA has been working closely with Member States to devise and implement programmes which include radiation medicine as part of a multidisciplinary approach to fighting cancer, from prevention and early detection to treatment. In addition to training health professionals, the Agency contributes to quality control measures and to the procurement of equipment for treating paediatric cancers by transferring advanced technologies such as proton therapy, and develops guidelines for the safety and protection of patients, including children, who receive radiation.
Thanks to the IAEA’s involvement in cancer diagnosis and treatment globally, CCI expects the partnership to bring benefits to young patients and their families worldwide, said Ruth Hoffman, President of CCI. “Our goal is for all children and adolescents with cancer to receive the best possible level of care, and have access to diagnostic services,” she said. “We can achieve this goal with the help of the IAEA.”