Inaugurated in 1996, the Lisa Thaxter Trust supports initiatives to improve the care received by children and young people with cancer, and their families. The trust is volunteer-supported, with no funded staff. One of these initiatives involves helping to improve access to affordable cancer treatment for children in Africa where 80% do not have access to Western treatment, which it is estimated would prevent 100,000 deaths.

This initiative was financially supported by the BWCF in 2003 and again in 2005, primarily in Malawi and Cameroon, and over 250 children have now been treated, 4 in 10 successfully. It is believed that this programme would significantly simplify cancer treatment and care, and reduce costs, thereby bringing access to cancer treatment within a very large range of children throughout Africa.

This Lisa Thaxter Trust initiative is supported by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and, through them, the results of this treatment are presented periodically to the international committee of the Society of International Paediatric Oncology. The support by the BWCF

enables the project to continue at a Cameroon hospital until mid-2006, treating an estimated 75 children, whilst helping to reinforce this protocol in the international community.