Activities

Inauguration of the first population-based registry dedicated to childhood cancer registration in India

The first Indian population-based childhood cancer registry (PBCCR) was inaugurated in Chennai at the Pediatric Cancer Registry, and Data Meeting was organized by the Cancer Institute (WIA – Women’s Indian Association) in Chennai, India, on 31 January and 1 February 2025. The meeting was hosted by Professor Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, the head of the registry, who is also an IARC Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development (GICR) trainer in childhood cancer registration. The childhood cancer registry closely collaborates with the Chennai population-based cancer registry, which has been run from WIA since 1982 and is currently led by Professor Swaminathan Rajaraman, a long-standing IARC collaborator.

In the presence of the Minister of Health and Family Welfare of Tamil Nadu state Thiru. Ma. Subramanian and his state secretary TMT. Supriya Sahu, I.A.S., Professor Radhakrishnan presented the first registry report on childhood cancer incidence and survival. At this occasion, an expanded statewide population-based childhood cancer registry for the Tamil Nadu state and the Indian Pediatric Haematology Oncology Group Hospital-Based Childhood Cancer Registry, were launched.

The meeting was supported by the Dr Steliarova-Foucher from IARC and Dr Nickhill Bhakta from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, who are the members of the registry board.

The main added value of the childhood cancer registry is recording additional variables, such as stage and treatment. The report also includes an assessment of barriers and enablers for implementing the registry, described in a recently published stand-alone article in the journal Pediatric Blood and Cancer.

These activities in Tamil Nadu state exemplify mobilization of communities joining the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer to improve the availability of data on the childhood cancer burden and achieve at least 60% survival of children with cancer globally by 2030

ChildGICR online course on Childhood Cancer Registration for Caribbean countries, October-November 2024

An online course was be run from 15 October to 12 November 2024 to promote childhood cancer registration and implementation of international standards.

The course was completed by 37 health professionals involved in population-based cancer registration in the following Caribbean countries:

Antigua and Barbuda; The Bahamas; Barbados; British Virgin Islands; Guyana; Jamaica; Sint Maarten; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands.

Workshop to build capacity for childhood cancer registration

More than 20 researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (in Memphis, Tennessee, USA), and institutions in 13 countries participated in the ChildGICR workshop devoted to registration of childhood cancers, held on 2–4 October 2024 in the IARC headquarters building.

During the workshop, experts in epidemiology, paediatric oncology, and cancer registration discussed the past approaches and future strategies to raise awareness, build capacity, and improve networking between professionals striving for the same ultimate goal of strengthening childhood cancer control across the globe. The outcomes of the workshop include an outline of the future educational programme, a plan for mutual support and collaboration, and a proposal for an expansion of the activities of ChildGICR.

The workshop thus provides a strong impetus to increase the capacity for the production of the data required for accurate surveillance and better control of the burden of childhood cancer.

ChildGICR Childhood Cancer Registration online course in Tbilisi, Georgia, 19-23 June 2023

An online course was run in June 2023 to promote childhood cancer registration and implementation of international standards.

The course was organised in collaboration with the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), Tbilisi, Georgia, under the auspices of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The course was completed by 30 health professionals involved in population-based cancer registration in the following countries: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Ukraine.

ChildGICR Childhood Cancer Registration online courses

Two online courses were run in September 2022 to promote childhood cancer registration and implementation of international standards.

The courses were organised by Cancer Institute (W.I.A) in Chennai and Vietnam National Cancer Institute in Hanoi respectively, under the auspices of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Each course was completed by 29 health professionals involved in cancer registration and medical practice with interest in childhood cancer, who are active in the following countries:

• India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka;
• Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines (the Hanoi course)..

Of the 95 professionals trained in the three regional courses, 79 (83%) confirmed that the course inspired them to promote childhood cancer registration as part of their working activities.

First ChildGICR Masterclass

As part of the ongoing activities of the GICRNet to form networks of regional trainers on specific topics in cancer registration,we held the ChildGICR Masterclass from April to June 2021. Overall, 22 participants from 18 countries completed the Masterclass. In working groups, they developed teaching material on seven topics, identified in a preceding survey of educational needs.

Development of each topic was supported by a senior advisor according to a provided brief outline. The participants benefited from hands-on experience and learning opportunities through their mutual interaction. In a post-course assignment, completed in July 2021, the participants designed courses for an audience in their region, using the developed knowledge, skills and material.

The ultimate aim of the Masterclass was to increase the capacity of generating data on childhood cancer in population-based cancer registries.

The successful graduates of the Masterclass were proposed to become part of the GICRNet, a network of regional trainers, whose mission is to disseminate their expertise to those who need assistance in the six IARC Hub regions.

The outcomes of the ChildGICR Masterclass 2021 on childhood cancer registration are:

• Defined priority topics for training and dissemination;
• Standard teaching material for the defined topics;
• A network of trainers ready to share and exchange their knowledge;
• A training deployment plan; and,
• Trainers' development programme.

Participants built a solid support network of collaborators to rely on during dissemination of their acquired expertise in the childhood cancer registration within their regions, in different languages.

Equipping the Masterclass participants with the skills relevant to registration of childhood cancers facilitates knowledge dissemination and leads to an improvement of quality of childhood cancer data collected in low- and middle-income countries. These data are necessary for planning and evaluating cancer control plans and for research activities. In the framework of the GICRNet, participants built a solid support network of collaborators to rely on during dissemination of their acquired expertise in the childhood cancer registration within their regions, in different languages.

Participants of the online ChildGICR Masterclass, in April 2021.