Retinoblastoma in Kenya
Retinoblastoma is an aggressive eye cancer affecting babies and young children.
Retinoblastoma is highly curable, and 96% of children survive in developed countries. In Kenya in 2008, 74% of children treated in Nairobi died due to lack of awareness and poor access to timely, appropriate medical care. We estimated national survival at less than 15%. Our experience is typical of developing countries.
Most children who are cured have one eye surgically removed to protect their life, and many lose both eyes. Resources are available to save sight in Nairobi when the cancer is diagnosed early, but most children whose eyes are saved suffer severe or complete, irreversible loss of sight.
Our Shared Vision: Life and sight for every child!
Many precious young lives and sight will be saved by increasing awareness, access to existing treatments, evidence based care and compassionate family support.
Both World Eye Cancer Hope and the Kenya Childhood Cancer Trust are committed to bringing these opportunities to every child with retinoblastoma in Kenya, and ending needless suffering from this curable cancer.
Our Shared Mission
Every child deserves the best opportunities to overcome cancer, and to have a good quality of life beyond cure or when cure is not possible.
Through our Partnership in the Kenya National Retinoblastoma Strategy, we bring those opportunities to children and adult survivors across the country by:
Educating the public and primary health workers about retinoblastoma to achieve early diagnosis and rapid referral to specialist care;
Empowering the medical community to deliver sustainable high quality evidence-based care that gives each child and adult survivor the best possible opportunities;
Enabling family support programs that reduce practical, emotional, financial and social burdens and improve access to essential care.
We work from grassroots to national level, empowering communities and medical teams to vault many different challenges so each child can receive best possible care. We encourage families, survivors, the eye care and cancer communities, imaging industry, health care policymakers and researchers to be active leaders in developing high quality sustainable care.
We unite and inspire our supporters to champion every child’s right to special protection, quality medical care and good health, survival and dignity, love and understanding.
With your help, we can ensure the needs of every child with retinoblastoma, every survivor, and their family are met. With your help, we are creating a bright future for all affected by childhood eye cancer, and with your help, we will reach a day when no one suffers needlessly because of this highly curable cancer.
Find out how our partnership evolved from love for one child, Kenya’s first childhood cancer NGO, focused on eye cancer, to partnership with a new national charity for all children with cancer.
Learn about our work to improve care for children with eye cancer, from awareness campaigns and national best practice guidelines for care, to family support and collaborative research.
Contact the Kenya Childhood Cancer Trust
We encourage our friends in Kenya to support the KeCCT. To donate, fundraise for or volunteer with the organization, or for further information about its work, please contact the Kenya Childhood Cancer Trust directly.
