By Tadiwa Nyatanga
National Aids Council (NAC)’s fourth fundraising golf tournament teed off last Wednesday and managed to mobilise resources for the procurement of five cancer screening machines through support from corporates and individuals.
The need for more machines has been necessitated by the increased cancer burden that Zimbabwe is facing at this moment. Through the hosting of these tournaments, NAC is reaffirming its commitment towards mobilisation of resources for HIV and cancer-prevention programmes. The previous tournaments raised funds enough for the procurement of 16 Tru-screen machines for the screening of cervical cancer. These have since been handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care for use in various district hospitals across the country.
Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony of the tournament, Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo highlighted on the need for foreign currency for the procurement of these machines. He pleaded with banks to assist NAC in accessing foreign currency for the procurement of these machines.
“Given the scarcity of foreign currency, I would like to appeal to the banks here present to assist by prioritising the National Aids Council to urgently access foreign currency to procure the cervical cancer screening machines without delay, as any delays would result in value losses,” he said.
Popular man of God Prophet Paul Mwamba who took part in the tournament hailed NAC for taking this initiative. He urged church leaders to encourage their congregants to go for check-ups regularly.
“We have a God who created the cells in the human body, he is the same God who gives wisdom to doctors. As churches we can preach about faith and cater for the soul, but people need to visit hospitals for their physical well-being,” he said.
Prophet Mwamba went on to say that while the church can pray for healing, people still need to visit hospitals for medical help.
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NAC’s acting CEO Albert Manenji thanked sponsors for their contribution towards this worthy cause, but pleaded for more resources as the available machines are not adequate.
“Our aim as NAC is to procure as many machines as we can so that we reduce travelling distances for clients who may want to get screened,” Manenji said.
“One needs to get this service at their nearest health centre and this will enable early detection of cancer, early treatment and avoidance of unnecessary loss of life.”
Zimbabwe records over 6 000 new cases of cancer per year with 60% of these associated with HIV. The majority of these cases affect women as 35% of them are cervical and 11.7% breast.
Lack of community awareness has been identified as one of the major challenges that we face in fighting cancer, as 80% of cancer patients present late at stages 3 and 4, resulting in increased premature deaths.
