Treating and caring for children who have Burkitt’s Lymphoma

at Bamenda Regional Hospital, North West Cameroon

Burkitt's Lymphoma is a fast growing cancer of the lymphatic system which affects children. It is named after Denis Parsons Burkitt, a surgeon who first described the disease in 1956 while working in equatorial Africa. It is rare in the UK and is mostly found in children in equatorial Africa. It is the most common malignancy of children in this area.

It is always fatal if left untreated, but with appropriate chemotherapy treatment about 60% of the children can be completely cured. Dr Frida Sunjoh (paediatrician) and the MCAI nurses at the hospital provide the treatment and then offer follow-up care for the children. In cases where the chemotherapy is not effective MCAI nurses provide appropriate palliative care including morphine to relieve the pain of this aggressive cancer. MCAI advocates that no child should suffer in pain.

MCAI funds this project as the chemotherapy drugs are not affordable for most families.
It costs around £300 to treat a child who has Burkitt’s Lymphoma.

Joyce and her grandmother

Joyce is three years old. She came to Bamenda Hospital with Burkitt’s lymphoma when she was two and was treated on the MCAI programme. Her family live a long way from Bamenda. Her Grandmother (pictured here) expressed how important the travel allowance that MCAI provides was. Without it, it would have been extremely difficult to afford the journeys to Bamenda for Joyce to receive treatment.