CCLG Global Child Cancer Group (formerly Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries - PODC)
The CCLG Global Child Cancer group supports individual trainees, resident doctor training and nurse training, as well as various projects in countries. Members of the group also have links with individual projects in various countries, including Pakistan, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Nepal.
The Global Child Cancer group (formerly CCLG PODC) has been active for over 10 years. There is an annual meeting for all interested people, and in recent years we have presented at London Global Cancer Week.
Some of our projects and how to get involved
There are many different ways of getting involved depending on your skills and where you work. You can contact any of the people below for more information. Your input and time is welcome and needed.
Edinburgh Ghana partnership
The Edinburgh – Ghana partnership has been managed by World Child Cancer (worldchildcancer.org) since 2010. It has proved to be very successful and healthcare professionals in Ghana, lead by Professor Lorna Renner, have developed a sustainable clinical and teaching service. Ghanaian doctors, nurses and pharmacists have been able to access teaching and training, both online and in person, from a number of other centres and countries as well. They have acquired specialist qualifications which have thus enabled them to teach colleagues throughout West Africa. However, as in all LMICs, there are considerable hurdles to overcome. The sharing of ideas and resources is vital to improve access to cancer treatment for all children.
Contact: Dr Emma Johnson - ielauren@aol.com
Country - Ghana
Royal Marsden Hospital, London
The Global Child Cancer group has run various childhood cancer workshops in India and Pakistan. These have been in the form of a combination of lectures and hands-on skills. These have been held in Chandigarh, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune, India. Workshops for doctors and nurses have also been held in various locations in Pakistan.
For the majority of the delegates this was the first formal educational opportunity specifically related to childhood cancer. They were delighted to receive their certificates which will now form an important part of their portfolio.
The delegates received the talks enthusiastically and there was very good audience participation. The overall feedback was excellent. The workshop was funded by donations from and money donated to the CCLG Global Child Cancer group fund and a grant from the CCLG.
Thanks to the ongoing support received we have been able to continue the collaboration between CCLG Global Child Cancer group and the Paediatric Haematology Oncology Chapter of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics and Pakistan Society of Paediatric Oncology (PSPO).
CCLG Global Child Cancer and Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncolgy (PSPO) also run monthly online lectures. These are presented by clinicians from the UK covering a wide variety of paediatric oncology subjects and are for nurses, doctors and allied health professionals.
Contact: Dr Mary Taj - Mary.Taj@icr.ac.uk
Countries: Pakistan and India
Liverpool
There has been a link between Liverpool and Nepal since 1996, and in 1998 the first Paediatric Oncologist in Nepal was trained at Alder Hey. Since then Barry Pizer and others have provided support for children’s cancer at Kanti Children’s hospital, Kathmandu. More recently, working with World Child Cancer (WCC), a DFID (FCDO) grant was awarded and a successful programme to develop cancer services at Kanti ran between 2020 and 2023. WCC have two further active grants to develop Paediatric Oncology across the whole country involving four main centres and several shared care centres. Multiprofessional training has been provided together with financial and psychosocial support for families. Barry, WCC and the local clinical teams are working closely with multiple stakeholders including the Nepal Government and WHO to develop services particularly as Nepal is a WHO GICC focus country and one of the first six countries to recipients of the St Jude Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines.
Contact: Dr Barry Pizer Barry.Pizer@alderhey.nhs.uk
Country: Nepal
Newcastle
There has been a long term link since 2004 between the Newcastle and Malawi team. A charity Children with Cancer in Malawi was set up by the Newcastle team that helps provide chemotherapy and supportive care medication as well as supporting nurses’ salaries. In addition basic remote pathology is provided as well as development of risk adapted treatment protocols. World Child Cancer also provide significant input.
Contact: Simon Bailey (Professor of Paediatric Neuro Oncology) - Simon.Bailey@ncl.ac.uk
Country: Malawi
General enquires
Contact: Neil Ranasinghe - Neil.Ranasinghe@lseg.com
Parent/patient advocate
Involvement of resident doctors
We would be keen to hear from our resident doctors, in both training and non-training roles about how best to support their interests in Global Paediatric Oncology. We appreciate the difficulty in obtaining time out of training and visa / work-related issues often being a barrier to be able to travel and work overseas. At the CCLG Global Cancer group we will explore opportunities of global work within our practice in the UK, through education, research and advocacy work. We are particularly interested to hear from our cohort of resident doctors who have had their primary medical training from overseas, about their experience and challenges of cancer care for children in their home countries and of any ongoing work they are involved in.
Please contact our trainee rep on the CCLG Global Child Cancer Group
Neelakshi Ghosh - Neelakshi.Ghosh@nhs.net
Support the work of our Global Child Cancer group
We have opened an online donation page so that you can make a direct donation to the work of our Global Child Cancer group. You can also make a donation £3 by texting CCLG 3 PODC to 70300.
Make a monthly donation to Global Child Cancer Group by Direct Debit
Donations help us to run more in-person training courses in Pakistan and Indian.
Click here to set up a Direct Debit donation (choose Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries from the list of funds)
The International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP), Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries (PODC) Nursing Working Group has written a set of Baseline Standards for the provision of nursing care to children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).