By Wally Bah
The Association of Cancer League of the Gambia, together with the Ministry of Health and other partners, recently held a rally in the form of a march pass from Westfield through Kairaba Avenue en route to the independence, meant to raise national awareness on breast cancer and other related illnesses that had to do with cancer.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ahmad Lamin Samateh cited statistics putting breast cancer rate in the Gambia at 70 percent; revealing that the rise is caused by undetected {illness}, the adoption of western life styles and poor health care.
The Health Ministry boss informed the cancer awareness marchers that the government has secured a new mammography machine currently at Edward Francis Teaching Hospital earmarked for cancer patients. To allay their fears, Minister Samateh encouraged them with a smile, saying: “We now have a new mammography machine in the country, do not be worried about this. You are not in fight alone. My Ministry is listening, and government is also equally listening; so be rest assured.”
According to the World Health statistics, there are 1.3million cases of breast cancer and other cancer-related illnesses, and in 2017 there were 8.2million deaths caused by cancer, in general.
The president of the Gambia’s Association of Cancer League, Aji Kumba Daffeh, lamented that in every eight women, four are living with breast cancer. She said her league’s mandate is to task Government to put more resources in the fight against cancer, in general.
“We want to see that Gambian women are free from cancer, and we will work hard at all costs, to make sure that the women are free from this disease’’, the Association’s President stated.
Madam Daffeh further decried that a lot of women are dying from cancer disease because of the stigma, and also not going to the hospital to do a test.
Ms. Sally Leigh, a cancer patient and also a video camera operator, claimed that she has spent 1.5 million dalasis on her cancer treatment at the Alrahman Clinic in Dakar.
She said her treatment and operation was bankrolled by the former First Lady of The Gambia, Madam Zainab Jammeh.
She, however, added that despite spending 1.5 million, she’s still going for her treatment. Reason, “Because I am still living with it’. Leigh stressed that, “We, the cancer patients, really need help, particularly when it comes to sponsorship; many a time, we find it difficult to get sponsorship.”
She maintained that their hopes are always dashed, particularly when they go to offices seeking for help from them.
“They always turn us away which is very sad’’, Sally lamented, adding that she realized that after having a test on her at the then RVTH where she was told by a doctor that she has a cancer.
But she disclosed that for her own case, she got the disease through a family inheritance.
