STOCKHOLM: The “Child4Child” campaign to support children with cancer worldwide has been launched by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, Founder and Royal Patron of the Friends of Cancer Patients Society (FoCP), International Ambassador of the World Cancer Declaration for Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and International Ambassador for Childhood Cancer for UICC, and Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden, on Monday.
The Child4Child global campaign coincided with the International Childhood Cancer Day, which is observed every year on February 15 to increase awareness about cancer among children.
The initiative was launched at the headquarters of the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation and attended by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi, Queen Silvia, Carmen Auste, Chairperson of Childhood Cancer International (CCI), Per Leander, Secretary-General of the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation, Ameera BinKaram, President of the Board of Trustees and founding member of FoCP, and a number of activists involved in supporting children with cancer in Sweden, and media representatives.
Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi said, “Today marks the International Childhood Cancer Day as we gather here from different countries to unite our efforts towards a better response.
“We are all in agreement that we need to reduce the global burden of childhood cancer, which means we need to address the causes of the disease and reduce its prevalence. This requires raising awareness as well as providing education to improve decision-making, along with increased cancer surveillance, early detection and emphasis on prevention. Equal access to treatment for children with cancer is an important human right and must be on the agenda of health and humanitarian organisations at the international level.”
Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher said that the International Childhood Cancer Fund (ChiCa), which was launched in cooperation with the UICC in May 2015, is the first humanitarian initiative of its kind in the world that aims to save the lives of many of the 90,000 children who die of cancer each year. “The Child4Child campaign is an important platform for children with cancer as it gives them a voice and a chance to be heard. Children with cancer are superheroes with inspiring stories, let’s help them make it through their illness, and give them a chance to tell their own stories, and to build a cancer-free world,” said Her Highness, adding, “As snow falls outside this building where we meet now in the warmth, there are thousands of children with cancer who lack the warmth of a family because they are admitted to healthcare centres. For all these children I say, ‘You are our children wherever you are… we feel your pain and understand your feelings… we are your family, and won’t leave you. You will go back to school, your family and friends, with smiles on your faces again’.”
Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi also launched the music video for the single “We Are One”, sung by children, some of whom have cancer, with the aim of supporting children with cancer.
Queen Silvia praised Sheikha Jawaher’s efforts in supporting and advocating for children with cancer and said, “Today the world is seeing the detection of approximately 700 cases of childhood cancer, and tomorrow there will be another 700 other cases diagnosed. I have learned through my work with children that they always have something to say to us, we need to listen to them, and therefore the “Child4 Child” campaign is very important.”