BBF Supports Pediatric Cancer Initiatives

Children undergoing treatment at the Pediatric Oncology Hospital of the Medical University of São Paulo gather to help celebrate the inauguration of four laboratories for cancer diagnosis, which are supported by Banco do Brasil Foundation.

The Banco do Brasil Foundation (BBF) historically has worked to promote public health and social welfare programs to aid the Brazilian people. With its initiative in pediatric cancer, BBF is developing strategies, providing equipment and influencing public policies that are improving the chances of survival for children with cancer throughout the country, but particularly in Brazil’s poorest regions.

In 1997, the prospect for most Brazilian children with cancer was bleak: of the nearly 7,000 cases each year, the majority were diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease, the quality of care available at treatment centers varied from region to region, and there was little statistical data available to help medical professionals determine the evolution of the disease in that country. The data suggested that of those 7,000 cases each year, only 4,600 were effectively treated. In the country’s poorest regions—the North and Northeast—cure rates were as low as 30%. BBF launched its Programa Criança e Vida (Child and Life Program) in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 1997 and a team of pediatric cancer specialists to turn this scenario around.

José Jaime Bastos, a hematologist and technical manager of the program, says that his organization already is making a difference. Since 1997, the Foundation has been working to establish a national network of hospitals that can provide precise and early diagnosis and adequate treatment. Money is also being directed to enhance, modernize and equip both public and philanthropic hospitals that treat children and adolescents with cancer. More than 5,100 children and adolescents have been assisted by these endeavors.

Since the inception of Programa Criança e Vida, eight strategically located hospitals have been provided with four laboratories for cancer diagnosis, conducting exams of pathologic anatomy, cytogenetics, immuno-phenotype and molecular biology. These eight hospitals will be responsible for working as Reference Centers for pediatric cancer laboratory diagnosis. At present, five laboratories are fully functional in São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Maria and Recife, and by the end of this year three more will be completely operative in Brasilia, Fortaleza and Belo Horizonte.

The Foundation also supported the technical training and continuing education of 2,500 professionals— specialists in pediatric cancer and other medical professionals who are directly working with the children.

An academic study of assistance housing (where children and their parents can reside for the duration of cancer therapy) is under negotiation with a Brazilian university.

With the collaboration of SOBOPE (Brazilian Society of Pediatric Oncology) and of the Ministry of Health, a huge national data bank called CIOPE (Informatized Centre for Pediatric Oncology) has been established to gather and to make available information about pediatric cancer in Brazil, including epidemiology, clinical characteristics, its evolution, and the evaluation of immediate and late effects of treatment.

Of 41 institutions that provide structured pediatric oncology services in the country, 19 have already been selected to receive financial support for the acquisition of equipment and furniture in order to improve treatment conditions. Five of these hospitals, located in Teresina, Aracaju, Vitória, Fortaleza and Natal have inaugurated their rebuilding projects and 10 more will be inaugurated this year.

Over the past five years, BBF has invested US $5.5 million in its Child and Life Program.

“Nowadays regional differences are decreasing,” Bastos says. “Soon we will be able to affirm that regardless of the region in which children are treated, they will have an equal chance of being cured.” Important progress continues to be made in the areas of early diagnosis and systemizing therapeutic protocols.

The Child and Life Program is also playing an important role in articulating and mobilizing government representatives in order to set new public policies that regulate cancer diagnosis and treatment, and in strengthening the Strategic Alliance Against Pediatric Cancer, a Brazilian movement that since last year has been working to coordinate efforts among the many involved in the fight against cancer: government, specialists, medical associations, non-governmental organizations, foundations, volunteers and assistance houses.

“As we started to fight against pediatric cancer we were encouraged on many fronts,” Bastos says, “particularly the improvement of work conditions for doctors, and the increase in the number of hospitals providing quality care. We have made a historic step toward the standardization of laboratory routines, the augmentation of information and knowledge exchange between medical professionals, and, most importantly, the increase of cure levels.”

M. Landskroener
for INCTR