A renowned organisation known as the Pink Africa Foundation has screened more than five hundred women and men for breast, cervical, ovarian and prostrate cancers in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria.
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The foundation collaborated with the wife of the Cross River State governor, Reverend Eyoanwan Otu, the Asi Ukpo Cancer Foundation and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), to screen the people, who turned out in their numbers, for the exercise.
In a brief remark to flag off the exercise, the wife of the governor, Reverend Otu expressed satisfaction with the collaborative effort aimed at combating the rising tide of cancer cases in the state and Nigeria generally.
Otu, who was represented by the Special Adviser Administration, Dr. Comfort Oko stated, “I am excited to see Cross Riverians unite in the fight against breast cancer. Breast cancer is a formidable opponent that knows no boundaries as it affects women, men, and families across the globe, regardless of age, race, or social status.”
According to her, the city walk, which preceded the screening exercise was a demonstration of the people’s resilience in the face of cancer, “We are saying that breast cancer will not intimidate us, it will not define us, and it will not defeat us. We march with determination and hope, knowing that together we can make a difference in the lives of those affected by this disease.”
She advocated for regular cancer screening, support research towards finding a cure and commending Pink Africa Foundation, Humanity Without Borders Initiative, as well as all other partners for their unwavering commitment to the fight against cancer.
Reset breast cancer
Also, the founder of Pink Africa Foundation, Dr. Nchewi Ani, who spoke through her representative, Pastor Gedah Etefia said that since 2016, the foundation, which is a non-profit charity organization and a member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS), has been at the forefront of the fight against cancer in Africa.
According to Dr. Ani, the Pink Africa has partnered over the years with Asi Ukpo Cancer Foundation, Calabar to facilitate breast cancer awareness across all communities in the state and beyond.
Ani explained that every year, the foundation picks a day during the month of October, which also known globally as the breast cancer awareness month to concentrate its awareness campaigns and other activities on the city of Calabar before proceeding to other parts of the state.
“Every year, we pick a date, which we call the ‘Calabar Go Pink Day’ for our city wide awareness walk, teaching the people how to perform the self-breast examination. As you are aware, breast cancer affects both women and men. But, it is the first cancer disease amongst women in Africa and the world.
“On this day, we go beyond the walk and educating the people to screen women for cervical cancer, while we screen men for prostrate cancer as you can see by the way we have set up this location. We are using the two halls for the screening.
“When we started some years ago, we utilised one hall and had just 10 screening booths. But today, we have two halls and twenty screening booths for the screening of just women and girls. We have also set up a screening centre for the men as well,” she said.
The Pink Africa founder stated, “Our target for the Calabar group is about 500 to 1,000 people for screening. However, the turnout is overwhelming and we are prepared to screen as many as possible. It also means that we are reaching the hearts of the people with the message just like our theme says ‘Reset Breast Cancer from Screening to Survival’. So, we are pleased with the response.”
Some residents of Calabar, who turned out for the screening described the exercise as beneficial for them as individuals due to the free services rendered by the foundation and its partners.
They noted that the screening and education on self-breast examination were given at no cost and expressed appreciation to Pink Africa for its commitment to breast cancer awareness.
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