On the occasion of World Cancer Day, a delegation from the World Health Organization (WHO) visited the University Children’s Hospital in Damascus and provided a grant of USD 1 million dedicated for the treatment of children suffering from cancer.

The aim of the visit is to review the services provided to children with cancer, WHO representative in Syria Elizabeth Huff told SANA, pointing out that the WHO is exerting its best to provide an additional grant for the treatment of cancer patients in other provinces.

Huff added that the organization supports the National Cancer Registry of the Ministry’s Cancer Control Department, which follows up on the status of patients across the country in terms of condition, mortality, and needs.

According to the Registry, the number of cancer patients in Syria is nearly 140,000 who are currently receiving treatment, and there are 25,000 new cases that are registered annually.

For his part, Hospital Director Dr. Mazen al-Haddad said that children with cancer are treated according to the latest international treatment protocols, adding that the development of cancer detection and diagnosis methods has contributed to providing early treatment and saving the lives of many patients.

He went on to say that the Hospital receives about 7,000 children with cancer each year, stressing that the WHO was a great supporter for the hospital during the crisis in Syria in terms of providing medicine, medical equipment, and even funding.

World Cancer Day is an annual event marked on February 4th and it is organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise global awareness of the dangers of this disease to encourage its prevention, early detection, and treatment.