World Child Cancer (WCC) improves the diagnosis, treatment, and support for children with cancer in the developing world. WCC achieve this by twinning local hospitals with those in the developed world. These partnerships provide staff training and mentoring that builds the capacity and knowledge of doctors and nurses. WCC also provide holistic care for families, support treatment costs, provide ward equipment and fund essential staff posts.

The Children’s Palliative Care Initiative in Bangladesh (CPCIB) is a partnership of 11 organisations led, and largely funded, by WCC. The Initiative focuses on improving the quality of life for children with cancer and other life-threatening or life-limiting conditions. It is estimated that 29,000 children in Bangladesh require palliative care. Prior to beginning this programme, many children’s cancer doctors had little or no awareness of palliative care. Children who had no chance of a cure were subjected to gruelling rounds of futile chemotherapy because their doctors wanted to do something, and these treatments further added to the family’s costs and their financial hardship.

The goal of the CPCIB is to reduce the burden of suffering for children with cancer and their families through the development of children’s palliative care services at government hospitals in Bangladesh. WCC is currently working with five hospitals around Dhaka and expect that number to grow.

The project will form a working group for palliative care in Bangladesh that will draw on the five hospitals and have three areas of activity that are vital to establishing these services: advocacy, training, and service provision.

Advocacy: includes increasing the understanding and acceptance of palliative care among patients, families, and health care professionals.

Training: Continuation of the established training partnership with the Centre for Palliative Care in Hyderabad, India.

Service provision: As each hospital commits further to developing their paediatric palliative care service the partnership will provide appropriate training to their key staff.