Abstract
Survivorship care is a major area of focus in the holistic management of
childhood cancer with current knowledge and information almost
exclusively from high-income countries. In this review, we summarize the
state of scientific knowledge, service delivery, advocacy initiatives
and research efforts in this field in India. 21 single centre studies
published till date (20 in the last decade) confirm some of the
well-documented issues in childhood cancer survivors and also highlight
the high prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection in our
survivors. Heterogeneity in methodology, outcome metrics and quality
precludes drawing further conclusions and the ongoing multicenter Indian
Pediatric Oncology Group study would address this. Besides the usual
model of follow-up clinics in hospital settings, innovative models of
service delivery led by not-for-profit organisations are being
developed. Advocacy initiatives driven by survivors and support groups
are also underway. All of these portend a promising future.