UAE | General
Charity walk held in Al Ain to create awareness about cancer
More than 500 people including cancer patients, children and their parents on Sunday took part in a walk aimed at creating public awareness about the disease.
- By Aftab Kazmi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 22:39 March 9, 2008
- Image Credit:
- The walk, organised by Tawam Hospital, was held inside Al Ain Zoo and the participants covered a distance of three kilometres
Al Ain: More than 500 people including cancer patients, children and their parents on Sunday took part in a walk aimed at creating public awareness about the disease.
The walk, organised by Tawam Hospital, was held inside Al Ain Zoo and the participants covered a distance of three kilometres, said the organisers.
Cash was also collected during the walk, called Walk for Life: Hope and Help for Cancer Patient, and the proceeds will be given to oncology patients.
This was the second annual walk of Tawam Hospital, a leading UAE medical facility operating in affiliation with the Johns Hopkins medicine of the USA. The first walk was organised last year.
Tawam Hospital is also the national cancer registry, offering services since 1998 to all Emiratis and expatriates cancer patients. It also has a dedicated social workers and cancer awareness committee.
Sumaya Ismail Al Raisi, a social worker at Tawam Hospital said, the walk was aimed at creating awareness about the disease and successfully conveyed the message.
"We are proactive in our approach [at Tawam Hospital] in reaching out to the public and spreading further understanding of the disease," she said.
There are more than 100 different types of cancer, yet most people can only name a few.
"That is why we believe that it is of extreme importance that people learn about the disease," said Al Raisi.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA, cancer is now becoming more of a global burden than ever before. The WHO projected that fatalities from cancer will continue to rise with an estimated 9 million people dying of cancer in 2015 and 11.4 million dying in 2030.
Dr Jorgen Kristensen, Head of the Oncology Department at Tawam Hospital, said: "These figures are alarming, although these are based on the latest death rates, they do not take into account important factors such as future awareness campaigns and prevention strategies."
He believes efforts by physicians, doctors, medical institutions, hospitals, educational centres and non-profit organisations can help in spreading the word. "The Walk for Life is just one of our initiatives and is a fun and educational day for all," he said.
Dr Kristensen said the first mobile mammography-screening unit of the hospital has successfully been operating since January this year. This is the first-of-its kind programme in the UAE.
"The programme aims to reach interior regions of the UAE and seeks to screen up to 20 female patients a day facilitating the diagnosis of patients in the early stages of the disease and providing them with the best treatment and cure to meet their specific requirements," he added.
Approximately 40 per cent of all cancers can be prevented and others can be detected early, treated and cured, he said.
Tawam's mammography screening unit is an example of one of these detection measures. Even with late stage cancer, the suffering of patients can be relieved with good palliative care, Dr Jorgen Kristensen added.
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