A few miles can mean a life or death difference to children with cancer, if those miles cross a national border. “Twinning programs” helped to reduce survival disparities in childhood acute leukemia between high income and lower income countries, according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology on Saturday.
In 2008, researchers and clinicians at Rady Children’s Hospital, the University of California, San Diego, and Hospital General-Tijuana created one of these twinning programs, where two “sister hospitals” share training, expertise, research, and other resources for the mutual benefit of patients in both countries.
