Nutritional Care for Children with Cancer
Of the 200,000 new pediatric cancer cases identified globally every year, 80 percent are in low and middle-income countries. And up to 85 percent of children in India are malnourished at diagnosis
Elena Ladas, Assistant Professor of Nutrition in Pediatrics and Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University Medical Center, shared these statistics to highlight the importance of providing nutritional support to children with cancer in India. Nutrition not only improves the quality of life of children with cancer, but also increases their survival rates. Speaking at a public lecture organized by Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai in January, Professor Ladas said “Research has shown that poor nutrition of children has resulted in increase in length of their hospitalization and chances of re-admission, increased side effects of cancer therapy and could even result in them abandoning cancer therapy.”
Professor Ladas was invited by the Mumbai Center to initiate a program to build capacity among nutrition practitioners and caregivers in the country through training and education. She has already collaborated with institutions in India such as the Tata Memorial Hospital and has founded the International Initiative for Pediatrics and Nutrition (IIPAN), a collaborative network of hospitals, scientists, clinicians, and clinical investigators, which works to transform nutritional care in pediatric oncology in low and middle-income countries. She now hopes to deepen the collective’s footprint in India by partnering with the Mumbai Center.
Dr. Ladas noted that beyond medical practitioners, the ability of parents and caregivers to ensure appropriate nutrition needs to be strengthened. Another issue that deserves attention, she noted, is the adolescent and young adult demographic that has been left out of the ‘pediatric’ age bracket in the country and therefore does not get the appropriate care required. She explained, “Our goal is to ensure that no child with cancer dies simply due to malnutrition, and that every pediatric cancer unit in India is adequately supported, trained, and resourced to deliver nutritional care. We want to establish India as a regional center of nutritional excellence and to expand this model throughout the global pediatric and cancer community.”