Community educated about cancer
Tsakane - To raise awareness and educate the community, the Ekurhuleni Maternal Women's and Men's Health Programme held a cancer awareness campaign at the Tsakane Old Age Home on Friday.
Community members and senior citizens where present to learn more about cancer and where they can undergo screenings and treatment.
Manager of the programme, Thembane Masina, explains that the campaign not only focuses on breast cancer, but all cancers.
“We are educating the community about the different types of cancers that are found in the body, and are also interacting with them to find out how much they know about examination and treatment,” says Masina.
She further says that men are advised to get screened for prostate cancer and women must have pap smears every year.
“It’s still difficult for some men in the community to go and get screened for prostate cancer so we want to raise awareness and let them know that it’s a very important medical screening especially as they grow older,” says Masina.
Masina says some community members raised the point of not being able to access some of these services at hospitals.
“We have noted that there are some issues when women go to hospitals for pap smears, and we will raise these findings with the appropriate departments after the campaign,” she says.
Centre manager Phoko Mokubung says he is happy that the programme was held at the old age home because even senior citizens need to be educated about cancer as it is a disease that can affect anyone.
