Dr. Chagaluka says that last year the hospital registered about 200 cases of cancer in children compared to 350 this year, leukemia being the commonest.

He said this is commonly affecting children from the age of five to seven.

“We are trying our level best to create awareness to parents on information to recognize cancer in their children as well as asking district hospitals to quickly refer these cases in good time since this is curable disease,” he said.

He, therefore, said they are facing challenges of lack of drugs and enough staff saying it is impeding the fight against the disease.

Malawi Health Rights Programme Executive Director, Mr. Maziko Matemba, expressed concern that cancer has been neglected for so long, which he said has been proven to claim a lot of lives including children.

Mr. Matemba said cancer has now been included into the priority list of conditions to be considered by the ministry of health.

“As civil society organisations, we have been pushing for a lot of investments into the health sector to address the condition and other health challenges,” Matemba explained.

QUECH is the main tertiary care centre that provides diagnosis and treatment for children with cancer.