Sanofi expands cancer care campaign

Sanofi-Aventis has expanded its My Child Matters programme, adding another seven new projects for improving cancer care for children in low- and mid-income countries.

New projects will be based in Cameroon, Ecuador, Mozambique and Panama, with three being set up in Thailand.

Jointly run with the International Union Against Cancer (IUCC), each of the projects will receive a seed grant worth 50,000 euros for 2010 coupled with the support of international experts in paediatric oncology, fundamental research and public health.

Each year more than 160,000 children are diagnosed with cancer of which about 90,000 die of the disease. The cure rates in high-income countries are currently at 80%, but in the mid- to lower-income countries, the survival rates drop to 20% to 10%. 

Gilles Lhernould, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility at Sanofi-Aventis, said: “Nearly five years after the initiative My Child Matters was launched, it continues to show that we can all work together to create new types of partnerships to meet health challenges that do not receive sufficient attention, such as childhood cancers in developing countries.

“It is our responsibility to help these countries to reduce healthcare inequalities, specially when children are concerned.”

In 2005, 14 projects were funded in ten pilot countries including Bangladesh, Morocco, Ukraine and Vietnam. In 2006 ten additional projects received grants in six countries, including: Bolivia, Indonesia, Peru and Romania. In 2008, a further five new countries were funded across Africa, Asia and South America.

Sanofi said the number of counties involved makes My Child Matters one of the largest campaigns to improve childhood cancer care.

As a part of its social responsibility agenda, the company has given three million euros to this initiative and will contribute a further three million euros for the 2010-13 period.