The 2026 Childhood Cancer Report
From diagnosis to research: measuring momentum in the search for cures
Section 3: Critical Gaps: Challenges in Funding, Treatment and Access
Overall, more children are surviving cancer than ever before thanks to advances in technology, geographic growth in specialized cancer centers that offer therapies like proton radiation and CAR T-cell therapy, increased private funding, and decades of research.
This is particularly true in the United States, Canada, and Europe, where over 80% of the children diagnosed with cancer will be alive five years after their initial diagnosis—a massive increase from five-year relative survival rates of 58% in the 1970s. Low- and middle-income countries without comprehensive public health infrastructures still lag decades behind in survivorship rates (see Section 1 for more information).
For some childhood cancers, survival rates remain extremely low, no matter where a child lives. Developing new drugs for kids—creating, testing, and getting FDA approval—remains a major challenge. Since the 1950s, many more cancer drugs have been developed and approved for adults than for pediatric cancers, with most pediatric oncology approvals occurring in the past two decades. Even for survivors, cancer is a lifelong condition, often requiring management of long-term and late effects of treatment.171
The section ahead details how geography can impact survival rates, explores the hidden costs of cancer care to families, examines the current climate of research funding and legislation, discusses the challenges in research and drug development, and shines a light on some of the solutions on the horizon.