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CEO of the Cancer Association of Namibia delivers message on Pink Day 2021

CEO of the Cancer Association of Namibia delivers message on Pink Day 2021

We started the 2021 Pink Day movement at the beginning of October and launched the 21st Annual Bank Windhoek Cancer Apple Project thereafter with the message of ‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.

The phrase is a metaphor that means ‘Using the understanding gained by others who have gone before us, in order to make progress for us right now, and so we influence the future for the better.

For us, this means that we have the ability to learn from the past capacitate and make the world a better place today, if not immediately for us, then AT LEAST FOR OUR CHILDREN.

My question on day one of October was, what footsteps do we leave for those who come after us? So that one day they may also say ‘those were our parents, our giants, the ones who paved the way for us, the ones who made it better for us.’

The Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) 2020, currently estimates that worldwide, an estimated 19.3 million new cancer cases and almost 10.0 million cancer deaths occurred in 2020. Female breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer, with an estimated 2.3 million new cases (11.7%), followed by lung (11.4%) colorectal (10.0%). prostate (7.3%) and stomach (5.6%) cancers.

Lung cancer remained the leading cause of global cancer deaths, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths (18%), followed by colorectal (9.4%), liver (8.3%), stomach (7.7%) and female breast (6.9%) cancers.

Overall incidence was from 2 fold to 3 fold higher in transitioned versus transitioning countries for both sexes. Death rates for female breast and cervical cancers, however, we considerably higher in developing versus developed countries.

The global cancer burden is expected to be 28.4 million cases in 2040, a 47% rise from 2020. Currently, Namibia sees an annual average of 3 780 new cancer cases per year an increase of 7% per annum back-to-back over the last 5 years.

We continue to experience an annual increase in especially women’s cancers and currently, more than 54% of all Namibian cancers are reported by women.

We can save lives if we work together. When we use the knowledge and techniques around us, we do not try to reinvent them. We merely need to look for success stories around us and adapt That wheel to our environment and conditions, and WE CAN SAVE LIVES!

An effective wheel of hope and change in the fight against cancer in Namibia is the Cancer Association of Namibia, our National Cancer Outreach Programme supported by our project partners and you, the Namibian public.

You allow us to fuel our engine and roll out wheels of hope throughout the country to visit rural points and screen for cancer complimentary, even hosting community clinic at a minimal N$100 donation, while CAN subsidizes the difference all to bring quality screening and support services to the nation.

As an organisation, we cannot be everywhere all the time, so we take hands with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, training and capacitating their teams, to carry on jointly, where we cannot be. We are thankful for programmes like the US Embassy and USAID in Namibia who have invested in Cervical Screen and Treat programmes, to help save lives.

The morning, as we officially wrap up ‘Pink October’ with Day 2 of our complimentary CAN Clinic where we are screening 300 women complimentary in 3 days, we encouraged Namibia to stand with us. We ask that you help us keep the wheel of progress moving in the right direction.

I ask you, to keep on supporting hope so that we can use the knowledge gained already, become more effective and impact in our communities so that we build on a future where cancer is no longer seen as a plague or stigmatized as a death sentence.

But a treatable and survivable medical condition.


 

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