Background

Childhood cancer is an emerging problem in lower and middle income countries. The extent of the impact of this group of diseases is poorly understood due to the inaccurate data collection and information known to the paediatric oncology community.

The lack of infrastructure and resouces can only be addressed once the scale and impact of childhood cancer is properly documented.

The South African Children’s Cancer Study Group (SACCSG) is commited to advancing the study and knowledge of childhood cancer, not just in South Africa, but in the Southern African region.

For this reason the South African Children Tumour Registry (SACTR) was started in 1987 to document the cancer burden of the national paediatric population. Data is collected by all the registered Peadiatric Oncology Units of South Africa on all maligancies of resident children in the Republic of South Africa under the age of 18 years.