Around 20 to 30 childhood cancer cases are diagnosed each year in Fiji, says Aspen Hospital Lautoka Pediatrician Dr Savenaca Seduadua.
Dr Seduadua told the first ever, childhood cancer cancer awareness workshop, organised by the WOWS Kids Fiji in partnership with the Ministry of Health, that the most common forms of cancer presented to the hospital were acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, brain tumors and lymphomas.
“We see other solid cancers as well, or solid tumours such as kidney cancer – this is usually termed Wilms tumor – eye cancer, termed retinoblastoma, and peripheral nerve cancer called neuroblastoma,” Dr Seduadua said.
Dr Seduadua said there were three active leukaemia cases in Lautoka.
“Generally, childhood cancer is not as common as adult cancer. It’s quite a rare condition, but it does happen.”
He said radiation therapy was not offered in Fiji for cancer treatment, however, chemotherapy and surgery were available.
Dr Seduadua said this sort of treatment took two years.
“We have lymphoma, which we are able to treat, especially Burkitt’s or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Neuroblastoma, depending on the stage of the neuroblastoma, we are able to treat that, and other cancers as well, like the common kidney cancer that happens in children.”
