Reflections on the SIOP 2022 Congress in Barcelona from the Rehabilitation Team

by Abu Sidhanee, Children’s Physiotherapist & Clinical Lead, University College Hospital London, UK & Co-Leader of the SIOP Rehabilitation Team

My main aims for the SIOP 2022 Congress were to make progress with taking the SIOP Rehabilitation Team forward and to discover some new members while in Barcelona. The thing I was most looking forward to was finally meeting colleagues in person again! 

After the last two virtual events, I didn't quite know what to expect; however, the Congress was a huge success and the record 3,400 attendees from 135 countries speaks for itself. Jaume Mora and the Local Organizing Committee did an amazing job of bringing back the face-to-face Congress with a bang in the wonderful city of Barcelona.  

During the Congress, I had the privilege of visiting the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital Children’s Cancer Centre in Barcelona. It is the first single specialty children's cancer hospital in Spain and has only been open for a few months. Its facilities are inspiring and it is clear every attention to detail was given to ensure the space is welcoming and suitable for children and families being treated there. One of my highlights was the purpose-built rehabilitation gym, a bright and positive space containing exercise and play equipment so that children can keep active while having treatment for cancer. It was very encouraging to see this clear culture of keeping children active within the hospital environment.  

I reflected that this is something we should try to replicate as much as we can in every childhood cancer treatment setting in the world. However, we know that rehabilitation is often not prioritized and continues to be under-resourced in many settings globally, including high-income countries (HICs). Rehabilitation practitioners are also relatively rare compared to other healthcare workforces, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where skilled rehabilitation practitioners number less than 10 per one million of the population. As an example of this, our work using data from the SIOP Global Mapping Programme to understand the state of rehabilitation services across Africa, demonstrated a wide variation in the reporting of physiotherapy services across the continent; with some countries not reporting any paediatric oncology physiotherapy services at all (for further information see: https://siop-online.org/globalmapping/)

Whilst acknowledging income setting and resources are important factors, we also know it is possible to effectively deliver physical activity interventions inexpensively and with minimal resources, including using simple equipment or everyday household objects, if needed. This is something we as a Rehabilitation Team can improve awareness of, and develop resources for, to enhance physical activity interventions in all settings.

Back at the Congress, it was positive to see several posters by rehabilitation and exercise practitioners, and presentations about innovative research into exercise. Pia Delano (Physiotherapist from Chile & Team Co-Leader) and I did our best to raise the profile of Rehabilitation and the Team, while attending as many sessions as we possibly could. 

Very promisingly, we managed to make several links at the Congress through exercise scientists from Canada, Denmark and Germany; and rehabilitation and physical medicine professionals from Switzerland, Palestine, the Netherlands, Spain, the USA and Canada. We plan to arrange a virtual launch meeting for the Team later this year, where our existing and new members and supporters from around the world can meet to help take our current initiatives forward and identify new collaborations and projects.  

Some of the most meaningful discussions I had with colleagues at the Congress were around how important it was that we ensured our outputs could be applied to all settings, regardless of income; and how we will need to think creatively and utilise the expertise of our colleagues in LMICs to ensure we achieve this. We must not forget the huge inequities that exist globally; of the estimated 400,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year, most live in LMICs, and only around 20–30% of those children survive, compared to more than 80% in HICs (The World Health Organization Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer). So as a new Team, we must aim to bridge the gap and do everything we can to ensure all children and young people have access to rehabilitation and physical medicine. 

Our first official photo! Some of the paediatric oncology rehabilitation and  exercise professionals from around the world who attended the SIOP Congress in Barcelona.

As a Team, we will work together and aim to advance rehabilitation and physical medicine for paediatric cancer in all settings. We were reminded of how significant this is at the opening ceremony, when Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones, the now ex-president of SIOP, said "We are here to address the global inequities that exist, and we are only going to shift that needle if we work together". 

If you are interested in joining SIOP’s Rehabilitation Team or would like to find out more, please contact us by email: PaedsCancerRehab@outlook.com or scan the QR code for further information. The Rehabilitation Team is part of the Supportive Care Working Group, which in turn is part of the SIOP Global Health Network.

Abu Sidhanee is a Co-leader of SIOP’s Rehabilitation Team. He is a Clinical Lead Physiotherapist working in Children’s & Teenage Cancer services at University College Hospital London, UK. Abu is a member of SIOP and the Children’s Cancer & Leukaemia Group (UK). He is the lead of World Physiotherapy’s IPT-HOPE Paediatric Oncology specialist interest group and was also part of the peer review group for the WHO Cancer Package of Intervention for Rehabilitation. Abu works as part of a comprehensive multi-professional team in the care of children and teenagers with a wide range of cancer diagnoses. He has a special interest in neuro-oncology, bone tumours and on-treatment rehabilitation and physical activity. (Twitter: @ThatPhysioAbu)