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if something has gone wrong in the world, the

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fix and it on people

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fixing the world from the bbc world service will

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you find people are trying to do, just

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that bbc world

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service podcast supported by

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creation, with global

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sought we're

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the balance

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maybe

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deeper

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the new and vulcan the i'm at myra

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a new be and this is people fixing the

0:48

well from the bbc world service on

0:51

this program we look at solutions to global

0:53

issues and today we're

0:55

talking about saving children from

0:58

cancer

0:59

now for

1:01

many like me cancer

1:04

is a personal journey in

1:07

, thousand and twelve my mother was diagnosed

1:09

with it and two years later

1:11

we lost her during the time

1:14

i got to see first hand the emotional

1:17

and financial burden that this disease

1:19

can have on families been

1:22

diagnosed with cancer can sometimes feel

1:24

like a death sentence in some parts of

1:26

the world why well

1:29

it's really because most of the knowledge equipment

1:31

and resources to treat this disease

1:34

it's or concentrated in the wealthy parts

1:36

of the world some

1:38

countries don't even have a single qualified

1:41

cancer doctor or

1:43

to the technical term and on colleges

1:47

unfortunately the vast majority

1:49

of children with cancer live in

1:51

low and middle income countries if

1:54

, child for example developed cancer

1:56

and you live in a wealthy country is

1:58

a really good chance at doses it's more than

2:00

eighty percent but in other parts

2:03

of the world the chances are much

2:05

much newer i'm talking less

2:07

than thirty percent however

2:10

it today you're about to meet

2:12

an amazing doctors who has saved

2:14

hundreds of young lies and completely

2:17

transformed the way that cancer treatment

2:19

is given the children and haircut

2:21

three

2:26

dr made

2:28

the lender caesar pediatric oncologist

2:31

from the philippines when she was

2:33

just seventeen she watched her own

2:35

mother die of cancer and

2:37

sadly even to her medical

2:39

the mean she saw more people and

2:41

children the scene

2:44

i came from a public hospitals

2:47

in mindanao where the children

2:50

with cancer i saw died of

2:52

their disease or for your first

2:54

diagnosis and did not come back

2:56

for treatment so i thought to herself

2:58

very depressing sub

3:01

specialty

3:02

and because of the loss of her mother

3:04

this really affected me

3:06

i didn't want to achieve with a ten

3:08

foot pole because like my mom died

3:11

of cancer in every time as he care

3:13

of the those children is the sort of like

3:15

i have this crushing feeling in my the

3:18

as qualified as a doctor she

3:20

went on a placement to one of the top hospitals

3:23

in singapore and , was there

3:25

that's used to should have to help in a cancer

3:27

ward now for the first

3:29

time the first as people

3:31

started to recover i was just

3:34

blown away by a the concept of

3:36

having somebody survived cancer

3:39

and then gone with lives as

3:41

if nothing happened and

3:43

then she got an invitation that seems

3:46

everything may met some

3:48

american cancer specialist to come

3:50

to singapore to do some training

3:52

the then invited her to visit them at them

3:54

same suits hospital which is a

3:56

leading research and treatment center for

3:59

pediatric

3:59

the

4:01

change it to me was like disneyland and

4:05

they have like a flowing

4:08

from the tab that experience

4:11

planted a lot of hope

4:13

in my heart that maybe one day

4:15

we could do the same same things for filipino

4:17

children and that's exactly what she

4:19

did me went back home and try

4:21

to get the hospital managers, where she was to

4:24

let let her set up a a hunting unit for kids,

4:26

they weren't keen

4:28

i mean, they they had other priorities children

4:31

were dying of pneumonia and diarrhoea when

4:37

i was doing my rounds, like, 8 in

4:39

the i couldn't walk straight

4:41

inside the word because there

4:44

were people sleeping on the floor seeping

4:46

under the bed was eventually,

4:48

given her own separate room with full

4:50

beds just for cancer patients, but

4:53

it was was a struggle struggle because she had do almost everything

4:55

herself, 18

4:57

years years on and it's a a very different

4:59

story with a helper seen suits

5:01

hospital she found a way to deliver

5:04

world class cancer care to

5:06

filipino children a model

5:08

that's being rolled out in other parts

5:10

of other world the

5:13

we also reported today mikael

5:15

are papa who's based in the philippines

5:17

to go out and check this out for us thanks

5:20

for joining us mikael i mean i know this

5:22

is a difficult subject it

5:24

is a very difficult subject the mean

5:27

i don't have any personal experience

5:29

with experience with my immediate family so it was

5:31

a bit of a shock for me to go into this world

5:34

where cancer is a daily reality

5:36

but at the same time it was also very moving

5:38

to see all the progress that

5:41

has happened because of one woman's perseverance

5:47

when i went to visit me at her children's cancer

5:49

institute in davao city that's the

5:51

biggest urban center in southern philippines

5:54

and from the outside the building

5:56

the really look like much i mean it's just a white

5:58

foxy three

5:59

the building but as soon as i

6:02

entered i was

6:04

immediately greeted by this bright lobby

6:06

filled with colorful images painted on the walls

6:09

and a waiting room full of kids clutching

6:11

their proceed teddy bears a theme watch t

6:13

v

6:14

you could really tell that this was a space

6:16

for children

6:21

the word seventy three year old patient surrounded

6:23

by nurses and south holding balloons

6:25

and presenting her with a birthday cake

6:43

every day moscow and

6:46

a birthday is and feet milestone

6:48

sandwiches

6:50

on the wall of that word hung some

6:52

things that they called the belle of home

6:55

and this is a very special bell because

6:57

she said not when this and messy to

6:59

see treatment said the fans from

7:02

everybody knows that somebody distances

7:05

man and it's a very very inspiring

7:07

phone here map only

7:09

for the other pieces of also say

7:11

the sas and stuff was called

7:13

it though fellow for

7:16

the i wanted to the cold the sound of it but

7:18

it's sacred say really would not let

7:20

me ring it they can see that things have

7:22

really moved on a lot since may for set

7:24

up her tiny for bed cancer ward

7:27

the day about three hundred

7:29

the are treated here every year

7:31

all of the kids call her doc mates

7:33

and she's now supported by six doctors

7:36

who are all training for the specialists pediatric

7:38

oncologist as well as about sixty

7:40

nursing south spam and in

7:42

the lobby i met a little girl now

7:45

we've changed her name to protect her identity and

7:47

i'm calling for joy because despite

7:49

losing all over here to chemotherapy

7:52

she was so full of joy hello

7:58

now

7:59

how old are you i

8:02

i know thievery more low maintenance

8:07

, she was so friendly season let me play

8:10

with her read toy bus and

8:12

as i talked her i found out that last

8:14

summer was when her shoulders started to

8:16

hurt so her mother took her to the

8:18

local healer the local healer

8:20

massage did but of course it didn't get better

8:23

so then they took her from one hospital

8:25

to the next and onto the next and

8:27

no one could quite work out just

8:29

what was wrong or how they should treat her

8:32

but since joy got lucky because she

8:34

was seen by a junior doctors as it turns

8:36

out may have trained herself and

8:38

that doctor immediately realized

8:40

that this was cancer system this

8:42

real the bad news for choice mother

8:44

fab athena the third on

8:47

my , and and doctor

8:49

there's see said or child has cancer

8:52

a of course i said because

8:55

said thought the spencer means that my child

8:57

is up bookstore the

9:00

asked myself are you can

9:02

serve as both sides of my family's

9:05

has no concerts so why

9:07

did it have to be my daughter's

9:10

though it took them thirteen hours bypass

9:12

and cost them a month's salary for the fair

9:14

but they finally reached mates hospital

9:17

and forced to leave a the time may saw joy

9:19

she already had pretty advanced cancer

9:21

notice in her shoulder but in her right

9:23

eye to the what happens is that

9:26

children sit alongside to be brought the

9:28

the hospital and so when they come to

9:30

the hospital most of the time

9:32

there are cancer is in advance

9:35

feet which is very difficult

9:37

the pure

9:38

the have to cancers like this was a

9:40

very rare situation and may didn't

9:42

know that it was going to be a challenge but

9:45

she also knew who to ask for help you

9:48

have a direct line to some of the world's

9:50

leading childhood cancer

9:51

the

9:57

mckenna it's not direction

9:59

the road accident

10:01

that's where the solution comes in

10:03

yes that's right think it's hospital

10:05

has lots of experts knowledge

10:07

about new treatments highly sophisticated

10:09

testing equipment and that

10:12

lot of the drug market so they share

10:14

as much of this as they can with me but

10:16

i've seen how cancer treatment cancer

10:18

be and using the money's in to do this

10:21

remotely yes i mean

10:23

it's relatively straightforward for the

10:25

more common cancers because that already

10:27

has a treatment protocols they can share

10:29

but when may gets a case like joyce

10:32

that's when the support really since kick it

10:35

to walk us through this what happens exactly

10:37

okay well for starters every week

10:40

may joins the video call with a panel of experts

10:42

from st to hospital this

10:44

means effectively instant access

10:46

for disadvantaged kids to some of the best

10:48

cancer experts in the world

11:00

this call was all about

11:02

i cancer three american specialist

11:04

were on it along with doctors from indonesia

11:06

and me and mar like may

11:09

have got tricky cases that they need a hand with

11:12

when may first set up her cancer center is he

11:14

was the only doctor in asia being supporter

11:16

remotely like this by st jude's but

11:18

now others in the region have followed her

11:21

part me wanted to see

11:23

what they thought of joyce progress

11:25

i thank you very much fish also

11:27

out of the other members is t some of

11:30

our last month a very interesting case

11:32

and a five year old girl where

11:34

the an a minus and the right

11:36

arm and a lesson of the

11:41

i

11:46

mean that the

11:50

, to the that is not

11:53

ready for know about ohio

11:55

for

11:56

they just wrapped up the asia pacific humor

11:58

board meeting and

11:59

it really remarkable when you think

12:02

about how these children are being

12:04

talked about this meeting you

12:06

, these are children of fisherman of

12:08

farmers they're normally forgotten

12:10

in society and they probably would not

12:12

have gotten gotten medical attention

12:15

but now but , being

12:18

examined other getting the attention

12:20

of all these specialists from

12:22

all over the world

12:24

i mean let's was second go back to enjoy

12:27

stories how exactly did the hell

12:29

though the critical thing that st jude's did

12:31

was really help with a diagnosis doesn't

12:33

see me took tissue samples and

12:36

she sent it express to st jude's

12:38

the same night where they were able to look

12:40

right into our selves dna and

12:42

they worked out that enjoys case the cancer

12:44

had actually started in the retina of her

12:46

eye and then spread to her shoulder

12:49

now that's very very rare for

12:51

pretty soon may have an accurate diagnosis

12:53

and treatment plan in are handsome i

12:55

mean this treatment plan how is it what's

12:57

not so far has toy doing well

13:00

unfortunately they had to remove joys

13:02

right eye but she is

13:04

on the mend and doc me says

13:06

that her chances of survival are high mom

13:10

is still a bit anxious because joy

13:12

still has a lot of to more to come but

13:14

so yourself she's very cheerful you know

13:16

she was doing ticked off dances the word

13:19

when i was there

13:25

i'm gonna say oh you're so

13:27

good

13:31

yeah

13:33

the intelligence analysis

13:35

these two sassy see i know

13:37

the policies to be really sorry zero

13:40

the hospital my husband and i were surprised

13:42

that she wasn't say anymore then

13:44

she does picked up for happy to we

13:47

, that she says honey

14:04

this is people fixing the world from

14:06

the bbc world service and today we're

14:08

looking at how experts can share their

14:10

knowledge about cancer across the world

14:13

in an effort to save the lives of hundreds

14:15

of thousands of children with cancer

14:18

children like joy of five year

14:20

old girl from a village in the philippines

14:22

who's getting the treatment she needs thanks

14:24

to the help of leading on colleges

14:26

in the united states no

14:29

answer is one of the world health organization's

14:31

top priorities and together

14:34

with st jude's hospital disappointing

14:36

programs similar to me is in about

14:38

sixty countries all across the

14:40

world and retailer they have an ambitious

14:43

target right target right within these

14:45

countries are trying to increase the survival

14:47

rate for children and forty

14:49

percent to sixty percent before

14:51

the a twenty thirty that soon eight

14:54

years or less yeah that is absolutely

14:56

ambitious but think games can

14:58

be made especially with the most common curable

15:01

cancer and six of those including

15:03

leukemia already have standard treatment

15:05

plants so it would be easier to get hold

15:07

of the right drugs and so on so

15:09

it is possible to save a lot of

15:11

lies s and that's a big

15:13

if you put the right

15:15

the since in place

15:16

okay i mean i can appreciate what they're trying

15:18

to do but michela let's talk about the

15:20

success street and sweets different

15:22

is the were treating this child at the st

15:25

jude's hospital there must be a limit to

15:27

what they can do remotely well

15:29

yeah there is still a challenge when it comes

15:31

to the rare cancer is because these can

15:34

be easier to misdiagnosed

15:36

mean st jude's lab only has

15:38

so much capacity the can't really do tests

15:40

for the whole world course here and deal

15:42

drugs are also hard to get hard hold of

15:45

so the cancer send it in the post

15:47

from america unfortunately because you know we

15:49

have strict regulations in place in each

15:51

country so what st jude's

15:54

and the world health organization are trying to

15:56

do is i'm they're trying to

15:58

do a lot of work to me cancer more easily

16:00

available and

16:01

irritable around the world

16:03

lastly in there is also an issue

16:06

of the skills gap when they

16:08

started out started jude's did help her

16:10

sent a lot of nurses who the u s and

16:12

singapore for training and having specialists

16:15

nurses really makes specialists big difference but

16:17

you know difference know need complex surgery

16:20

to remove a to are you might not always

16:22

be able to find the right surgeon to do that

16:24

procedure here in the philippines so

16:26

all of these things really affects survival rates

16:29

rates so i'm assuming that training more

16:31

on colleges i mean that seems

16:34

to be like the biggest part of this yes

16:36

absolutely they are they're working with

16:38

universities and they're running online training

16:40

courses and they're even lending

16:42

their own staff to help train on location

16:45

but of course yeah this kind this training takes time

16:48

and you chance

16:48

it up if you want good censor doctors

16:51

okay i see and i mean that only

16:53

matters if he can actually get the kids into

16:55

treatment and as you seen with joy

16:57

that can be very challenging right yeah

17:00

unfortunately early diagnosis is

17:02

still one of the main challenges so joy

17:04

story is a pretty typical case

17:06

and what may not doing as she's running a public

17:08

information campaign suitcase training

17:11

nurses and rural clinics so that they can spot

17:13

the signs earlier that

17:15

there is another really big challenge

17:17

which has nothing to do with science or

17:19

medicine me says that when she

17:22

started her cancer center the

17:24

vast majority of her patients actually abandoned

17:26

their treatment and went home halfway through

17:29

in fact it was apparently a staggering

17:31

ninety percent while ninety

17:33

percent is really high i mean what's

17:35

the reason it's crazy right apparently

17:38

the penny dropped for me when she was doing

17:40

her rounds back in the early days she

17:43

she noticed that a little five year old girl was

17:45

being looked after by her that not

17:47

her mum so may ask where

17:49

the mom was

17:50

the father looked at me and said oh my

17:52

wife's just gave birth she's breastfeeding

17:55

so skyn as funny to the hospital because

17:57

she has brought our area

17:59

the youngest be with her

18:01

if it were the

18:03

it turns out of the mother and her baby

18:05

were sleeping in an old bus stop right outside

18:07

the hospital that's because they could go home

18:10

their home was eight hours away by bus

18:12

it just struck me as if like lady

18:14

is trying to cure cancer and i couldn't

18:17

even saw the simple problem of having

18:19

a roof over their head of you know

18:21

this particular five minutes so may

18:23

was able to find a place for them to sleep

18:25

in the hospital kitchen but

18:27

this encounter made me come up with a solution

18:30

which is pretty simple but it has

18:32

made a massive difference to treatment and survival

18:34

rates she said

18:36

the house

18:39

the house of hope has bad for thirty

18:41

five children the most as

18:43

most as spend a few weeks here in between

18:45

the most taxing parts of their treatment and

18:48

one parent is allowed to stay here with

18:50

i got the chance to play with the kids is

18:53

a they're just such a lively

18:55

blinds in all i saw them in chemotherapy

18:57

this morning chemotherapy said

18:59

serve hiring a physically

19:02

painful process and yet now

19:04

and they're playing their lawson with their

19:06

friends as if nothing happened and

19:09

i say that really drives home that what

19:11

bird doing is not says treating these

19:13

kids medically but they're giving them a

19:16

chance to just be kids

19:18

despite everything that's happening

19:20

the alone

19:27

the house of hope is a charity and

19:29

the also help out with things like bus fares

19:31

food costs and so on if that means

19:34

the difference between a child being able to save

19:36

for

19:36

mint or not

19:38

i mean that that's great but i'm going back to

19:40

that again ninety percent of the

19:42

patients abandoning their treatment

19:44

how much as hell

19:46

well maybe says that it's gone from ninety

19:48

per cent abandoning treatment down to twenty

19:51

percent and so you know it's a huge

19:54

improvement but yeah treatment

19:56

abandon them and still does exist while

19:58

i was there may actually they'll to persuade

20:00

one mother to let her child complete treatment

20:03

even though the cancer was curable the

20:05

problem was the mother had a new

20:08

baby waiting for at home and that

20:10

baby needed breastfeeding is

20:12

you know you have to remember formula milk isn't widely

20:14

available rural areas here

20:16

troy christian very difficult which

20:18

mother would sacrifice one tried for

20:21

the other but you know in places

20:23

where even having city square

20:26

meals a day is difficult then

20:29

you tend to understand with

20:31

that particular if he should we had that okay

20:33

can we have the palliative care team

20:36

take care of this family so that

20:38

the don't feel that they are never alone

20:41

on to deal with a child might be

20:43

dying because they have not decided

20:45

to go for

20:47

the question that's on my mind mikaela

20:49

is the money cancer

20:51

treatment can be very expensive yeah

20:54

i mean obviously all children

20:56

and all cancers are unique so it's really hard

20:58

to compare like for like but as

21:00

a very approximate guide think

21:02

shoes hospital says that it would cost

21:04

around half a million us dollars to treat

21:06

a child for leukemia in the us but

21:09

may reckon said it costs us under twenty

21:11

thousand us dollars at her hospital how

21:14

twenty thousand that's that's a massive

21:17

difference the along the savings

21:19

or because things like wages are lower and

21:21

they really try to slip out anything which isn't

21:23

essential so it's a bit like flying on

21:25

a budget airline simple

21:27

things like being very strict about hygiene

21:30

can apparently save them loads of cash

21:32

of cash of a child gets an infection that

21:34

and costs over a thousand five hundred dollars

21:37

to put them in isolation room and treat

21:39

someone antibiotics so the

21:41

really serious about it they had me were full pp

21:43

in some parts of the hospital and

21:45

all of the computers even have an alarm which

21:48

rings every hour to remind the south

21:50

percentiles their hands okay

21:52

but to who peaceful has set up well

21:55

the government pays for most of it ends

21:57

and the house of whole foundation tries to shoulders

21:59

arrests the parents usually don't end up having

22:01

to pay anything

22:02

but unfortunately even with systems

22:05

like this being set up the truth

22:07

or reality is that children are still

22:09

dying from cancer and it's really tough

22:11

yeah it was a very difficult coverage

22:13

for me i'm really not fun seeing

22:15

so many seriously sick children may

22:18

, a said that she sounded very tough

22:20

times and she's told me that they're been times

22:23

where she almost gave up because

22:25

it's also difficult right now i think

22:27

my biggest satisfaction is having

22:30

a team who has traded with

22:32

me over time for also very

22:34

committed to what the hard stuff

22:37

have taken care of children with cancer

22:40

when a child was says that i want

22:42

to be a doctor seven day doctor i want

22:44

to be want policeman some days

22:47

we're making all the streets and

22:50

no matter the situation it's always great

22:52

to hear that people are trying to find solutions

22:55

think so what we've heard today we kayla thanks

22:57

my

22:59

unfortunately that's all we have time

23:02

for but if you have any thoughts

23:04

about what you've had today send

23:06

us an email to people six in the

23:08

world at b b c don't see

23:10

odour uk with your names

23:12

and locations and if you've missed any

23:14

of our previous episodes just

23:17

as for people six in the world

23:19

over you get your podcast next

23:21

week we'll be looking out for more interesting

23:24

solutions

23:34

the hundred nineteen forty nine the

23:36

warriors

23:37

comic been devastated the

23:39

japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki

23:43

reacquaint us as most places

23:45

have detected radiation and the atmosphere

23:49

that , only be one explanation

23:52

the soviet union has exploded

23:54

the comic bomb as their eyes

23:57

a bomb they were thought to be years away

23:59

from developing

24:01

how can this happen

24:03

the answer is telling

24:06

the bomb a podcast

24:09

from the bbc was uncovered

24:12

, griffin true story of espionage

24:14

espionage the very heart of the british american

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for the phone or as he sounds just

24:21

ah