Setting
Argentina extends over 2.8 million
square kilometers. It has 24 political units: 23 provinces and Buenos
Aires city, the Federal District. Its population is mainly urban (90%);
46% of the population is distributed over the Federal District and the
province of Buenos Aires. Political units are commonly grouped into five
major geographical areas (“regions”), as shown on the map (Fig. 1). In
2010, the population 0-19 years of age consisted of 13.8 million
children with the following distribution: 61% in the central region
(CEN), 14% in the northwest (NW), 11% in the northeast (NE), 8% in
the Cuyo region (CUY), and 6% in the region of Patagonia
(RP).22Of all the children with cancer, 83% receive free healthcare in public
centers. Throughout the country, there are 37 private and public PHOUs
where partial or complete treatment is provided; six of these units are
provincial referral centers with different care levels. More than 40%
of the children are assisted at the national public referral center.
The ROHA is part of the National Cancer Institute of the Ministry of
Health within the National Program for the Comprehensive Care of
Children and Adolescents with Cancer (PROCUINCA). The data used by the
ROHA are provided by different sources; most of the cases are reported
by different PHOUs throughout the country. In addition, the ROHA
receives information from 12 population-based cancer registries that are
not exclusively pediatric.