First Lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa has pledged to take her cancer awareness and prevention initiatives to inaccessible parts of the country where access to information and knowledge on the now deadly disease has been limited.
Speaking during the World Cancer Day commemorations in the capital today, the first lady called on donors and government to increase cancer awareness mechanisms especially in inaccessible areas.
“This time l am targeting areas around Mount Darwin near the Mozambican border, these areas are remote and they lack information that can save them.
“The theme we are working with this year ‘l am and l will’ helps us have a self awareness hence leading a healthy lifestyle, making the people around you aware of cancer,” said Mnangagwa.
The Chief Director for Curative Services, Dr Sydney Makarau who stood in for the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo said there is need for continuous training of health care staff in the early detection of cancer and management.
“We have had challenges of poor challenges of poor health seeking behaviors among our communities including some among us,” said Makarau.
Over 5000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in Zimbabwe annually. On the same vein, five common cancers in black Zimbabwean men include Kaposi sarcoma at 7 percent, Prostate cancer 9 percent, Oesophageal cancer 5 percent, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 6,2 percent, stomach cancer and liver cancer 5,7 percent.
Children have not been spared by this scourge with a total of 250 childhood cancers (0-14) of all races having been recorded in 2015.
