October is a month set aside world wide to create awareness and campaign against the spread of the deadly disease called cancer. On 4th of October,
2012, Mrs Amosun in collaboration with the Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), flagged-off a free screening Breast and Cervical Cancer Awareness campaign throughout the length and breadth of Ogun State. The ceremony, which had the President, Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN) Ogun State Chapter, and Dr. (Mrs.) Winifred Adenuga in attendance, took place at the Olorunda Health Centre in Abeokuta North
Local Government Area, and was replicated in each of the other
19 LGA of the State. The objective of this exercise was to educate women across the state on how to prevent cancer and offer support to those women found to already be suffering from the disease.
According to Mrs. Amosun, “cancer has become a deadly disease, spreading fast and robbing us of our loved ones, we cannot afford to be complacent, hundreds of thousands of people die from various types of cancer in the world yearly, and this gives great cause for concern. Cancer is incurable after a certain stage and it can affect any part of the body. Cancer has no regard for age, color, race, beliefs or customs, it is, however, preventable when detected early, by screening and quick intervention, and that is why we have embarked on this exercise. This exercise will take us to all the 20 local government areas of the state, to screen all women that otherwise would not have gone for screening due to ignorance or lack of funds. During the course of this program we intend to enlighten those who are not aware of the need to check ones self regularly and remind those that take cancer issues for granted, that early detection is the only prevention.”
She said the essence of this exercise was to make women in Ogun State “cancer prevention advocates” by talking to other women across the state, urging them to speak up, take action and take control of their health. She counseled them on the importance of carrying out regular cancer screening checks, stressing that cancer is only preventable when detected early.
All screening was carried out free of charge and was made available to all women in the state for the whole month of October 2012. This was done with the full technical support of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN) Ogun State chapter, of which Mrs. Amosun is the matron. It is worthy of note that MWAN offered their services voluntarily and free of charge for the entire duration of this exercise.
