Govt unable to help children with cancer

JAKARTA: Indonesia marked on Tuesday the international child cancer day with an appeal to social organizations and people to show they care for children with the deadly disease.

Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said 4,100 of 210,000 people diagnosed with cancer in the country every year were children aged under 10-years old.

Leukemia is the most rampant cancer among children effecting 30 percent of all sufferers, followed by brain cancer and eye cancer with 20 percent each.

Sujudi said people could help save the country's children from cancer by practicing a healthy lifestyle and taking their children to doctors if they showed any symptoms of cancer.

Eating vegetables and fruits, avoiding alcoholic drinks, food containing preservatives and additives, and smoking was one of many ways to prevent cancer, Sujudi said.

He said people's participation in the program was pivotal since the government had no resources or funds to help the children. -- JP