The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is proclaiming September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in Fairfax County and encouraging residents to support this cause that impact families in communities across the country.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while cancer in children is rare, the disease strikes some 15,000 children (younger than 20 years) each year in the United States and remains one of the leading causes of death in this age group. The good news is that cancer death rates among children from birth to age 14 have dropped nearly 70 percent over the past 40 years. However, less than 10 percent of federal cancer research funding goes to studying childhood cancers.  

In an effort to improve health outcomes, the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Reauthorization Act was signed earlier this year to help address the burden of childhood cancer, enhance data collection, boost funding, and identify new ways to care for survivors. More current information about cancer can improve understanding of the disease, increase enrollment in clinical trials, and connect patients and their families to helpful resources more efficiently. 

Cancer Prevention 

Families can help lower their child’s risk of developing certain cancers later in life by helping them make healthy choices, like avoiding sunburns, wearing broad spectrum sunscreens, staying active, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco products, and getting vaccinated against Human papillomavirus (HPV).  

Resources

Families looking for resources, including causes and prevention, managing care, finding trials, or in need of emergency resources, may visit cancer.gov. 

Additional resources: 

Childhood Cancers (National Cancer Institute) 

Childhood Cancer STAR Act (National Cancer Institute) 

INOVA Children's Cancer Program (INOVA)

HPV Vaccine (Virginia Department of Health)

Cancer Prevention Starts in Childhood (National Cancer Institute)