Cancer Awareness Survivors Trust (Cast) has launched a magazine, Cancer Zim, which seeks to demystify and remove the stigma attached to the disease.
BY OUR STAFF
As people worldwide in the month of October focus their attention on raising awareness for breast cancer, Cast took it to another level when they launched a magazine during their annual fundraising dinner on Friday.
The magazine is aimed at reaching out to communities not only in Zimbabwe but across the African continent. It captures stories of survivors and provides information on various types of cancer.
The magazine also has a piece on the late Bornwell Chakaodza, who was the founding editor of CancerZim.
Chakaodza succumbed to bowel cancer in February last year.
On the cover of the magazine is cancer survivor Gillian Samuels who battled with the disease, lost one breast but survived the grueling sessions of chemotherapy to tell her story. She chronicles her battle with the silent killer in her testimony which is aptly captured in the magazine.
Editor of the magazine Susanne Madondo said although people knew about cancer, there was not enough appreciation of the actual facts about the disease.
“We found that although people know about cancer, many do not know how to identify the disease or what to do when their loved ones are diagnosed with breast cancer,”she said.
The event was attended by health experts, officials from the corporate world, cancer patients, survivors and ordinary people who wanted to support the event.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, cancer claims more than 7,6 million people worldwide annually. Cervical and breast cancer account for over 750 000 of the deaths each year.
