The Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) completed the first round of its annual National Outreach Programme on Friday, which aims to provide free cancer screenings for both men and women in rural communities throughout Namibia.

The screenings are provided by CAN on a monthly basis, with two outreach programmes scheduled across the country.

The first round took place in the Hardap Region, and the second round began on Monday in the Omaheke Region.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, CAN Chief Executive Officer, Rolf Hansen, said that after two years of being unable to provide screenings due to the ongoing pandemic and its devastation, CAN is happy to announce that the first part of the outreach programme was a huge success in terms of people showing up. The screening is for cervical and breast cancer for those who are sexually active, women older than 20 years and prostate (Prostate-Specific Antigen focused) for men over 45 years.

‘We have the capacity and financial resources to screen 100 women and 40 men for free each day. The turnout was very encouraging, as we had 80 women and 40 men in Rehoboth alone on the first day, indicating that our people are in need of these types of screenings,” he said.

Hansen stated that women are still the most enthusiastic supporters of the programme because they are very proactive and show up in large numbers for screenings, while men are still a little hesitant, although there was an increase in the number of male participants this year.

‘This has been a good year. Surprisingly, a lot of men showed up in the smaller towns, showing an interest in the educational portion of the screenings; however, we did receive a lot of encouragement from females who brought their partners along. Women in our country play a critical role in advocating for these types of roll-out programmes,” Hansen said.

He also stated that the CAN National Outreach Programme is fully funded by CAN, primarily through support from the national cancer apple project.

He encouraged Namibians to support these types of projects because the proceeds are used to assist vulnerable Namibians who are unable to access the necessary health check-ups.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency