WHO and St. Jude Launch Market-Shaping Strategy for Childhood Cancer Medicines

The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners in the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines have launched a new strategy to strengthen the market for childhood cancer medicines and tackle one of the greatest barriers to survival for children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

About 400,000 children develop cancer each year. Since WHO and its partners launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer in 2018, nearly 500,000 children across 90 countries have benefited from stronger systems for care. Still, a child’s chance of survival depends heavily on where they live, largely because access to essential childhood cancer medicines remains limited.

Only 45% of childhood cancer medicines available

A baseline evaluation across 12 countries, carried out before the Global Platform launched, found that only around 45% of essential childhood cancer medicines were available in the 51 hospitals visited. Nearly half had been out of stock for at least one month in the previous year, even when they appeared on procurement lists or in hospital records.

Two constraints on the market

The strategy, titled “Closing the childhood cancer survival gap through sustainable access to medicines: market shaping strategy 2026-2030”, identifies two main constraints: a fragile and concentrated supplier base for essential childhood cancer medicines, and a fragmented, underfunded demand that fuels uncertainty and supply disruptions.

“Access to childhood cancer medicines depends not only on what medicines exist, but on whether markets are able to deliver them reliably, affordably, and at quality,” said Mr Santiago Millan, Technical Lead for the Global Platform at WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. “This strategy provides a practical roadmap for governments, manufacturers, procurement partners and civil society to work together to build healthier markets and ensure that more children can complete treatment and survive.”

Ten interventions to reshape the market

To address these problems, the strategy sets out ten interlinked interventions ordered so that near-term actions, including broadening the quality-assured supplier base, consolidating demand through pooled procurement and published forecasts, and deploying volume guarantees, create the conditions for regulatory reliance, integration of these medicines into nationally financed benefit packages, and, ultimately, voluntary licensing for newer therapies.

The Global Platform was jointly established by WHO and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Strategic Fund.

“No child should be denied a chance of survival because the medicines they need are unavailable, unaffordable, or out of reach,” said Dr Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, executive vice president of St. Jude and director of St. Jude Global. “By creating healthier and more sustainable markets, we can help ensure that every child, everywhere, has a fair opportunity to receive life-saving treatment and reach their full potential.”

Implementation is already underway

Partners are already acting on the strategy. WHO published the first expression of interest in August 2026, inviting manufacturers to submit childhood cancer medicines for WHO prequalification. The aim is to accelerate national product registration, diversify the supplier base, reduce regulatory barriers, and strengthen the long-term availability of quality-assured, child-friendly medicines. Earlier this year, a high-level round table at the World Health Assembly began engagement on market shaping with Member States, industry, civil society, and other stakeholders.

The Global Platform has worked with twelve countries since 2024: Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Jordan, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Zambia. Additional countries are expected to join, with onboarding planned for 2027.

“Zambia is proud of our progress in childhood cancer, including our early leadership in the Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines,” said Dr Kennedy Lishimpi, Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Ministry of Health, Zambia. “Yet persistent market challenges continue to affect access for children, and it is critical that we continue to work together to enhance the reliability and affordability of childhood cancer medicines.”

Lessons beyond cancer

The lessons from this work extend beyond cancer. The same market-shaping approaches could inform access to medicines for other noncommunicable diseases, in line with WHO’s broader commitment to help governments identify and share what works as the strategy is implemented.

Source: WHO news release, 15 September 2026.