Home away from Home Centres in India and its impact on the treatment of pediatric cancer

Over 50,000 children suffer from cancer every year, but less than 20,000 have access to complete treatment. Another study estimates that 90% of these children in lower middle-income countries abandon treatment due to lack of holistic care while undergoing cancer treatment. As frightening as it may sound, the good news is that childhood cancers have a high rate of cure provided that the medical treatment is supported by an infection free, cheerful environment and proper nourishment.

Underprivileged parents in rural India have no choice but to bring their children diagnosed with cancer to large cities where high quality treatment is available. While treatment may last as long as two years, the child may be an outpatient all through this long stretch or may have brief periods where hospitalization is required. Clean accommodation is unaffordable and often the families end up living on the footpath next to the hospital where the child is being treated. The unhygienic condition leaves them vulnerable to secondary infections leaving the families dejected to the point where they often abandon treatment and return home, increasing the likelihood of their child succumbing to cancer. St. Jude India ChildCare Centres bridges this gap with its innovative model of holistic care. Our “home away from home” is a hygienic, protective, nurturing environment which gives the children the best chance of beating cancer.

About the Speaker:
Prior to St. Judes, Anil used to lead government engagement, reforms and advocacy initiatives at Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a Bengaluru based non-profit working in the area of urban governance reform.  At Janaagraha he was required to engage with senior stakeholders at all three levels of government for implementation of governance reforms.

Prior to Janaagraha, he was with PRS Legislative Research, providing legislative research support to enable them to be more effective in the role as lawmakers. The role involved engagement with state assemblies, political parties and individual lawmakers for as part of their capacity building. Post a full-time MBA from IIM Calcutta in 2003, he managed state-level sales for Marico Limited.  In 2006, he made the shift to the development sector, managing a pan-India program on AIDS awareness among long-distance truckers as part of a project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.