Over 100 women in Lagos State have received free breast cancer screening. This was part of the breast cancer awareness campaign organised by PanAfrican Capital Foundation, BusinessDay has learnt.
The exercise was part of the Foundation’s initiative, tagged Project B, aimed at raising awareness about the disease and playing a role in supporting women in society.
Joshua Dominic, the Project Officer at PAC Foundation, explained that Project B, a one-month project in commemoration of Breast Cancer Month, was adopted to lend their voice to the fight against cancer, as research has shown that breast cancer is the leading cause of death globally.
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“We decided to continue in this journey because statistics show that one of the highest causes of death globally now is cancer, and breast cancer is one of the leading categories,” Dominic said.
He further said: “We have decided to lend our voice, contribute our own quota, and put our resources into fighting this monster so that we can have cancer-free sisters and daughters, we can have mothers see their children grow, and we can have daughters live to become mothers.”
Speaking further, he said the breast screening was divided into two: ultrasound for women less than 35 years and Mammogram for older women.
“We are not just doing the screening; we started the month with an awareness campaign across our social media platform, where we use different means such as live videos, held online sessions and discussions in groups and in firms just to educate women on how to improve their general well being and the health of their breast,” Dominic said.
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Also at the event, Omolola Ojo, Executive Secretary of PAC Foundation, said that PAC Foundation continually seeks to create social impact through innovation by recognizing the need for immediate action and providing interventions that will support other efforts to bring development that balances social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
“Every year, breast cancer kills more than 500,000 women around the world, and our commitment is to ensure access to breast checks and breast health education to women, especially in our immediate community. One of the things we are doing to support is to provide free mammography and breast scans to women, mainly women who have noticed one or two changes or irregularities in their bodies over the last year,” Omolola said.
Giving some symptoms of breast cancer, Michaell Bamidele, the Senior Sonographer Radiographer at Sage Diagnostic Center, explained that while some tumours may be malignant, some might be benign; however, he urged women to go for screening when they noticed persistent pain in the breast, lumps on the breast, discharge or bleeding of the breast, change in the sizes of the breast, among others.
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Asekun Omotoke, a beneficiary of the programme, while appreciating the Foundation for the opportunity, said she applied for the screening to eliminate the fear of the unknown.
“My interest was piqued due to the awareness on the Foundation’s social media platform, thus her decision to apply for the screening,” Omotoke said.
PanAfrican Capital Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of PanAfrican Capital Holdings, with an overarching mission to create sustainable impact through social good interventions and innovative solutions driven by the private sector. PAC Foundation has its core area of focus around Education, Economic Empowerment, Environment and Health.
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