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Bristow, NGO Partner to Raise Breast Cancer Awareness
[October 20, 2014]

Bristow, NGO Partner to Raise Breast Cancer Awareness


(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmed, Bristow Helicopters, is partnering Sebeccly Cancer Care, a non-governmental organisation to raise the level of breast cancer awareness in the country. The disease, which is prevalent among women presently, has no kwown cure and is usually regarded as a death sentence in most developing countries.



Speaking at a sensitisation lecture organised for the staff of Bristow on how to detect breast cancer and measures on how to combat the disease when diagnosed, the founder of Sebeccly Cancer Care, Dr. Lola Salako, a clinical/radiation oncologist, stated that there was no sufficient knowledge on the causes of breast cancer disease in the medical world, adding that early detection remains the cornerstone for the control of the disease. She stated that thousands of women in Nigeria are diagnosed with breast cancer yearly and a majority of them presently with the disease are at advanced stage which is incurable. According to her, majority of deaths occur in low and middle-income countries where most women with breast cancer are diagnosed in late stages due mainly to lack of awareness on early detection and barriers to health services, adding that the situation can be reverted if adequate public health programmes were put in place. She added that the survival rate for patients living with the disease in the country is still very low, because they cannot afford the treatment.

"The survival rate are still very low, because a lot of patients present to the hospital but can't afford the treatment, some of them lack support. So there are so many barriers to a breast cancer patient surviving the disease and the rate is still low. We have cancer registry but on a national basis we cannot collate the exact number of cancer patients therefore it is difficult to state the survival rate," she said.


Speaking also at the event, Business Development Manager, Bristow, Mr. Mayowa Babatunde, stated that the company decided to partner Sebeccly as a way of giving back to the society. He said it was part of the company's CSR of committing its time, resources and intervening in the society in order to help the need. "There is a partnership that we have established with Sebeccly to create awareness on breast cancer. It is one of the diseases that is affecting Nigerian women severely, and it is still considered as a death sentence, so we just want to play our part in helping to save more lives. Safety uplift up charitable giving programme, where we intervene in the society by giving our time, resources to help the needy in the society," Mayowa said.

Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

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