Diseases, whether communicable or non-communicable, continue to be public health concerns. Cancer, a non-communicable disease, is listed among the leading causes of mortality in the country.
To address this concern, then President Rodrigo Duterte approved Republic Act No. 11215, the National Integrated Cancer Control Act on February 14, 2019. As provided for in the law, an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which includes the strengthening of integrative, multidisciplinary, patient and family-centered cancer control policies, programs, systems, interventions and services at all levels of the existing health care delivery system shall be adopted. It also aims to make cancer treatment and care more equitable and affordable to all and improve cancer survivorship.
In place is the 2024-2028 National Integrated Cancer Control Program Strategic Framework which aims among others, to enhance capacities to meet the strategic goals of cancer control.
Cancer affects everyone regardless of age. One of the most common cancers in childhood is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) affecting primarily children below ten years old. In developed countries, survival rates are higher than those in less developed countries.
According to Ms. Margo Mercado, Executive Director of Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko Foundation, back in the ‘80s, the survival rate in the Philippines was 20-30 percent. “But the actual rate for that is as high as 80-90 if you finish the treatment,” she added. When diagnosed early and treated promptly, ALL is curable.
To provide holistic support to children diagnosed with ALL, Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko launched the program Batang Kapwa (BK) in 1989.
The Batang Kapwa program provides financial and emotional support to empower young patients and their families to endure the challenges of treatment. For financially burdened families with children diagnosed with ALL, the cost of treatment is unaffordable. The duration for chemotherapy for girls is two-and-a-half years while for boys it is three-and-a-half years. There are times when treatment has to be extended in case there is a relapse. Although the government has the Z benefit package for children with ALL, support is still needed by the patient’s family to sustain treatment.
It is difficult for parents who have kids with one of them diagnosed with ALL. According to Mercado, no parent should make the choice between treating one with ALL and feeding the family. “But that’s what they were going through,” she said.
Batang Kapwa helps families of children with ALL by subsidizing chemotherapy and related medical care; conducting group activities and counselling to the patients; providing guidance and counselling to parents and caregivers; giving educational support for children unable to attend school during treatment; and conducting awareness campaign to promote early detection of childhood cancer.
Mercado shared that during the treatment period, the children have activities together. Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko also holds Pamaskong Handog for the children. “In school, they’re the kids with cancer. Everybody treated them differently,” she added. This is not the case at Kapwa where they are regarded equally. “One of the things I ensure in Pamaskong Handog or [in] any activities, I let them be kids.”
Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko expanded the BK program last year. There is now the BK graduate. Mercado explained: “In the hospital, once your intervention is finished, you graduate. Once you graduate you need to process the trauma for the child and for the family. You need to teach them how to be a child again. You need to teach them how to dream again.”
Mental health was not part of Kapwa’s intervention in the past. But Mercado pushed for its inclusion to help the BK graduates psychologically.
“We’re there to guide but we’re also there to empower. We want them to get to a point where in they become productive members of society, that’s the direction we’re going with Kapwa towards the future,” she said.
This year, Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is the pioneer public service health program on air in the country.
