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YKAI launches ‘Humanity in Harmony’ to build palliative care home
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Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin (fifth left) poses with Indonesian Pediatric Cancer Foundation (YKAI) founder Sallyanna Sorongan (fifth right) and other dignitaries on Oct. xx during the launch of the foundation’s “Humanity in Harmony” program. (Courtesy of YKAI)
T
o help address the issues in caring for childhood cancer fighters, the Indonesian Pediatric Cancer Foundation (YKAI) presents its “Humanity in Harmony” initiative to build a palliative care home and hospice for children from underprivileged families battling cancer.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin officiated the launch event for the Humanity in Harmony program in Jakarta. The event saw the attendance of philanthropists, donors and expert observers of childhood cancer fighters from underprivileged families.
The facilities’ planned construction is scheduled to coincide with National Health Day on Nov. 12, with the “Symphony for Life” charity gala concert and dinner as the initial event.
The gala event on Nov. 26 will feature British-Indonesian pianist George Harliono, accompanied by the Jakarta Sinfonietta and conductor Iswargia R. Sudarno.
George will play renowned classical works, including The Nutcracker Suite and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The “Symphony for Life” charity concert aims to raise funds to build a palliative care home and hospice to support childhood cancer fighters, so they can have a better life and recover their healthy smile through the appropriate treatment protocol and sustainable recovery.
The number of Indonesian children fighting cancer increases every year.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization estimated that 8,677 children aged 0-14 in Indonesia had cancer in 2020, the largest number of cancer cases among Southeast Asian countries.
According to the latest reports from eight hospitals in Jakarta, Lampung, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Palembang and several rural regions, a total of 7,000 pediatric cancer cases are being treated by members of the YKAI community.
However, special facilities offering dedicated accommodation and care for pediatric cancer patients are limited in number. For example, Dharmais Cancer Hospital in West Jakarta has only an average of between 10 and 15 beds for childhood cancer fighters.
This is insufficient to accommodate the patients that need medicinal, chemotherapy and rehabilitation treatment during their stay with YKAI.
Given the urgent need for a dedicated facility that provides care to childhood cancer fighters, YKAI will be building a palliative care home and hospice under its family support service, one of the foundation’s four pillars.
Humanity in Harmony is a long-term project comprising a series of charity programs that aim to reach out to the donor community and pediatric cancer experts to raise awareness and encourage collaborative action.
The project’s priority program is to build the first-ever palliative care home and hospice in Indonesia for childhood cancer fighters from underprivileged families.
The hospice will comprise a care facility and all necessary infrastructure, including temporary accommodation for patients that will undergo treatment as determined at a referral hospital.
According to the WHO, palliative care is an approach involving different disciplines that improves the quality of life of both adult and child patients, as well as their families who are facing problems associated with this life-threatening illness.
YKAI was established in 2014 by Sallyana Sorongan, who initially set up a community with her family and friends to provide services for children that need assistance.
The fully independent nonprofit organization focuses primarily on facilitating the care and treatment of children from underprivileged families fighting cancer.
YKAI firmly believes that every childhood cancer fighter has a right to adequate care and treatment. To that end, it has established close relationships with a number of cancer hospitals and receives support from both individual and corporate donors to provide services for children with cancer.
The foundation also works to develop a network of partner hospitals to expand its outreach and coverage, based on its principles of embrace, protect and “together, return healthy smiles to Indonesian children”, said Sallyana.
To achieve its aims, YKAI continues to develop sustainable relationships with individuals and institutions that share its passion and spirit, and support the foundation through charity donations.
To date, YKAI has supported more than 6,000 childhood cancer fighters in Indonesia.
