Childhood cancer
Survival of children with cancer in developing countries is far lower than in higher income countries – often less than 50% compared to 70% to 80% in western European countries. One common childhood cancer in equatorial Africa, Burkitt Lymphoma can be cured at low cost - even when disease is advanced. Tragically, many families of children with this cancer cannot afford treatment.

Case Study
Mahija, an 8 year old Tanzanian girl, was diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma. She was treated with chemotherapy over a 12 week period at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar-Es-Salaam. In the first picture, she has a very large jaw tumor which affected her ability to breathe and swallow. Because Burkitt Lymphoma rapidly responds to chemotherapy, there was significant improvement in her symptoms and a reduction in the size of her tumor within one week of starting treatment (Picture 2). Three and a half weeks later, there was even more improvement (Picture 3). The total cost of her chemotherapy was £100. Mahija is cured and enjoying life free of cancer.

Donations made to the INCTR Challenge Fund have been used to purchase the chemotherapy drugs for patients enrolled in the INCTR Burkitt lymphoma Treatment Programme. Donations have also been used to provide the costs of supportive care medications, including antibiotics and those required to provide symptom and pain relief. Donate Now.

INCTR Burkitt Lymphoma Programme Update Nov. 2010
Stories from the field - INCTR Tanzania

What is Burkitt Lymphoma? Why does it call Burkitt Lymphoma?
Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a very rapidly growing tumour and although it is uncommon in most of the world, it is one of the most common childhood cancers in equatorial Africa. Denis Burkitt, an Irish surgeon working in Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, saw his first case of multiple jaw tumors in a 5 year old boy in 1957. Although pathologists working in Africa had observed the high incidence of jaw tumours and lymphomas in children with cancer in Africa, Burkitt was the first to describe the clinical syndrome associated with the lymphoma now named after him. He further demonstrated that BL was highly responsive to chemotherapy, and it was subsequently demonstrated that up to 20% of BL patients achieved long term survival when treated with chemotherapy. Unfortunately, in the present day, nearly all patients die for lack of any treatment or abandonment of therapy.

Because of its frequent involvement of the face, or widespread involvement of the abdomen and frequently a plethora of other sites, BL could not be treated with surgery and radiation has been shown to lead, at best to a transient response. Better results were obtained by investigators from the National Cancer Institute, USA when they used combinations of chemotherapy drugs to treat patients with BL in Africa.

In 2004, INCTR formed a strategy group comprised of African physicians who wanted to improve the survival of children with BL treated by their institutions. These physicians estimated that survival was less than 10%. Since late 2004, treatment has been given to children with BL in seven centres in Nigeria (2 centres), Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania (2 centres). On October 1st 2011 the 500th patient with BL started therapy in Tanzania. INCTR would like to expand its support of African colleagues in treating this extremely aggressive cancer, having already demonstrated that highly effective drugs that are affordable and manageable can save the lives of children with BL.

To read more about African Burkitt Lymphoma, read “Network”, our magazine, Volume 8 Number 2, please click here.