Dubai: The Ministry of Health and Prevention, launched a colon cancer awareness campaign to educate the community about prevention and early detection of the disease.
The campaign which is in line with the ministry’s strategy to promote healthy lifestyles in the community, provides information on eliminating misconceptions about colon cancer.
Colon cancer one of the highly prevalent cancers in both men and women in the UAE and is among the top five causes of death caused by malignant cancers.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Hussein Abdulrahman Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for the ministry’s health centers and clinics’ sector, urged the community members to undergo necessary screenings for the early detection of cancer by taking advantage of services such as ‘Itmenan’ for early detection of cancer,’ available in various health centers affiliated to the Ministry.
Al Rand said: “Through this campaign, we look forward to educating and sensitising the community on the importance of early detection of cancer and improving the chances of recovery, and adopting national cancer prevention programme as a joint responsibility of the governmental and non-governmental sectors. This reflects the vision of the wise leadership to improve health services and work environment for entities involved.”
The campaign includes a series of events at shopping malls such as the Etihad Mall, Lulu Hypermarket, Umm Al Quwain, and Citi Centre Ajman.
Activities at these centres include free counselling and information on colon cancer and factors that increase the risk of infection from specialists. The Ministry provides free early screening for colon cancer to UAE nationals in collaboration with NMC Healthcare.
Prasanth Manghat, CEO and Executive Director NMC Health Plc said, “The battle to defeat cancer requires collaboration at multiple levels. NMC is privileged to work closely with the Ministry of Health in the programme — Awareness and prevention of Colorectal Cancer meProgram for the early detection of colon cancer. This shall serve the tenets of the UAE National Agenda’s (2021) indicator to reduce cancer mortality. In order to save our residents from the scourge of cancer, promoting healthy lifestyle habits and running such preventive health checks would go a long way in overcoming this terrible disease.”
