Cancer incidence among children on rise in Kyrgyzstan

10:27, 16 февраля 2023, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Maria ORLOVA

An increase in the incidence of cancer among children has been registered in Kyrgyzstan. The WHO office in the Kyrgyz Republic reports.

According to it, 157 new cases were registered in 2022, 99 in 2021, and 139 in 2020.

The Republican Center for Health Promotion, in turn, recalled that early detection of the disease and immediate assistance can significantly alleviate the life of a child with cancer.

According to the center, early diagnosis consists of three components:

• Family members and primary health care providers’ awareness of the child’s symptoms;
• Accurate and timely assessment of the clinical picture, diagnosis and staging (determination of the degree of spread of cancer);
• Ensuring access to urgent treatment.

Cancer in children is accompanied by a number of alarming symptoms:

• Pallor, bleeding, bone pain;
• A tumor-like mass — especially if it is painless, without fever or signs of infection;
• Sudden weight loss or fever, prolonged cough or heavy breathing, night sweats;
• Eye changes — white pupil, strabismus, loss of vision, changes in the skin around the eyes;
• Increase in the volume of the abdomen, presence of a tumor-like formation;
• Headache, especially severe, prolonged exhausting vomiting;
• Pain in the extremities and bones, tumor-like formations on the extremities without signs of injury or infection.

The Republican Center for Health Promotion asks to contact a doctor if these symptoms appear.