Makati Mayor Abby Binay on Thursday welcomed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plan to provide free cancer medicines to children in low- and middle-income countries.

“This is great news especially for the Philippines where cancer is a leading cause of death among children,” Binay said.

“Getting free access to cancer medicines would bring immense relief to the families of pediatric cancer patients that are heavily burdened by the high costs of treatment,” she added.

The lady mayor — who is also gunning for a Senate seat in the 2025 midterm polls — stressed that providing Filipinos, especially low-income families, free access to life-saving medicines and treatments is a priority.

“Providing free access to life-saving yet expensive medicines to patients with cancer or other serious illnesses, especially those from poor families, is one of the advocacies I intend to pursue,” Binay said.

“Having cancer should not be a death sentence to those who cannot afford to buy medicines or have chemotherapy or radiation,” she added. “Children with cancer need help to get healed, grow up and get the chance to pursue their dreams.”

Binay expressed hope that the WHO will soon include the Philippines in its pilot sites for the project, which currently includes Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Jordan, Nepal and Zambia.

“I look forward to the country’s inclusion as a pilot site for the WHO initiative,” Binay said.

“I also hope the Philippine government will take their cue from the WHO and step up efforts to help young cancer patients get better and spare their families from indebtedness and more hardship,” she added.

Binay cited that the local government of Makati has been providing free maintenance medicines to senior citizens and other residents with hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, cancer and other chronic ailments.

The city also provides free and unlimited dialysis and chemotherapy sessions to patients under the program.