Rowaka Cancer Group - Sierra Leone

The non-governmental organization, Rowaca Cancer Group – Sierra Leone, with the support of Childhood Cancer (CHOC) South Africa is presently advocating for the provision of medical help for 3 year 7 months old Zainab Koroma who is blind in the one eye and presently suffering from excessive tumor in the affected eye. Zainab Kamara was healthy when she was born and life was promising for her young parents until an elderly person said to them she was not a normal girl- her eyes see beyond the normal person. Her parent took her to a tribal doctor who used herbs in her eyes. Her mother said she later noticed Zainab scratching her eye. “We noticed later that she was not seeing properly and we took her to the Magbeseneh hospital but we were referred to the Eye clinic where we were informed her eye had become faulty. According to the parent she totally lost her sight in the one eye but that two months ago the bad eye was swollen. “Now the doctors said her case is serious,” lamented her o...

Rowaca Cancer Group – Sierra Leone supports the United Nations General Assembly move to hold a Non-communicable Disease (NCD) Summit involving Heads of State, in September 2011. Kamara made this disclosure on Tuesday while talking to members of the media at his 17 Liverpool Street office. The assembly is to address the threat posed by NCDs to low and middle-income countries (LMICs). “Rowaca Cancer Group – Sierra Leone congratulates the unanimous decision of the UN Assemble in making LMICs a priority in their decision making,” says RCG-SL Team Leader, Alpha B. Kamara. Kamara said the decision was also congratulated by the World Heart Federation, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). Kamara said the alliance of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) represents the four diseases - cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases - t...

Rowaca Cancer Group - Sierra Leone has commissioned two sign boards to add to its campaign in Sierra Leone. The team leader, Alpha B. Kamara, said the sign boards will serve as reminder to community people. "We should use every tool available to address the burden of cancer," he said. Kamara said the speech by the president, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, during the opening of Parliament has showed that the Government is oblivious of the felt needs of the people of Sierra Leone, especially the health sector which for years has been the main economic problems of this nation. He said one key factor that is yet to be taken into cognizant by the stakeholders, especially the ministry of health, is the rising cases of Cancer among the people of this nation.

Information, through a well planned sustainable advocacy, can bring awareness to the people to know the dangers of cancer and the risk unsuspecting people may face from tobacco smoking and exposure to cancer causative substances. Information Dissemination, through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information useful in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer can be critical to saving lives of millions of people. Lung Cancer is mostly linked to exposure to cancer-causing substances: this includes exposure to asbestos in the mining or construction industries. Also exposure to certain industrial substances like coal products, nickel chromate, vinyl chloride, and exposure to some organic chemicals like chloromethyl ethers . However, the most common cause of lung cancer is tobacco smoking. The Rome 8 January 2004 report of the Food and Agricultural Organization of The United Nations (FAO) states, “Higher world tobacco use expected by 2010 .” The FAO says “number ...

Medical practitioners in Sierra Leone recently revealed at a One-day Workshop held at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences that there is no data on cancer.   The workshop which was held on Tuesday was attended by senior medical officers with co-partners from the University of Cardiff .   According to Professor Alison Fianda, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology- Cardiff University , Sierra Leone has an estimated number of 11,400 cases or death per year.   For a country with a population of 5.4 million, such a figure is threatening and needed grater attention by the government and stakeholders.   However, cancer sensitization will be key to enlightening Sierra Leoneans about their health decisions, especially the majority poor, who are still finding it difficult to afford for their livelihood.