Cuba´s comprehensive program includes eight locations that concentrate highest incidence and mortality including cancer in children and teenagers due to a huge psychosocial impact on the family and society, MINSAP said.

Cancer in children accounts for 1% of all cancer cases, MINSAP reported, while detailing the major types of tumors are leukemias, lymphomas and neoplasms of the Central Nervous System (CNS). These tumors represent approximately 50% of children with cancer in Cuba.

Cuba centralizes the cancer-related issue in nine specialized services with the necessary material resources and trained professionals to guarantee quality and survival of patients, MINSAP reported.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) also urged to improve the survival of children and adolescents with cancer, whose rate in Latin America and the Caribbean is 55%.

Cancer is the second cause of death in people aging up to 19 in the region, and around 29,000 cases are diagnosed per year, MINSAP remarked.

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