Beyond the cure: the need to implement a long-term follow-up system for childhood cancer survivors in Colombia

With the advent of high-quality multidisciplinary treatments, the overall 5-year cancer survival in the pediatric population
has improved considerably, reaching up to 80% in high-income countries. In Colombia, there has also been a progressive
increase in overall 5-year survival, particularly for hematologic malignancies. Consequently, the number of childhood cancer
survivors has increased significantly in recent years and, together with them, the occurrence of late adverse events related
to increased morbidity and risk of premature death in adulthood. Although follow-up strategies have been implemented
for childhood cancer survivors in high-income countries, few efforts have been made in Colombia to implement these
strategies. In fact, the common practice in most treatment centers is to discharge children who have had 5 years of cancer
follow-up, without precise instructions for long-term follow-up. This paper aims to argue about the need to design and
implement follow-up strategies for survivors of childhood cancer in the Colombian context.