CANCER FIGHT

The 11th edition of the run saw over 40,000 participants gather to increase awareness for the continued battle against the disease.

It is a common occurrence to experience or hear stories of patients spending nights outside wards because the facilities cannot accommodate them or that the personnel cannot attend to them in time. When it comes to terminal illnesses such as cancer, they require expensive equipment and medical attention.

Cancer in all its forms has ravaged people around the world and has not spared Ugandans, so much that in 2020, over 7,400 patients were admitted according to Dr. Niyonzima Nixon, the head of research and training at the Uganda Cancer Institute. More than 22,000 deaths occur in the country due to the scourge. These perpetually rising mortality rates warranted a call to arms; a call which has been consistently answered by Rotarians in Uganda.

The annual Rotary cancer run this year was held on the 4th of September 2022. It was originally organized in 2012 by Rotarians to bridge the gap in the fight against the cancer scourge by building a one stop cancer screening and treatment center at Nsambya Hospital – Kampala. This year’s edition attracted over 40,000 runners, not only in Kampala but in 30 towns around the country and 11 cities outside Uganda such as Kigali and Dar-es-Salaam and it grossed an impressive 1,362,620,000/= Uganda Shillings, twice the amount collected the last time the event was held in 2019!

In May this year, construction of the bunkers which will house the modern cancer screening and treatment machines such as the Linear Accelerators and the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, commenced. Mr. Stephen Mwanje, the chairperson of the Uganda Rotary Cancer Programme expressed Rotary’s gratitude for the overwhelming support received from Ugandans and people from all over the world over for the last 11 years and recounted the big milestones achieved so far saying, “For three years now, a well-equipped 36-bed cancer treatment Centre at Nsambya Hospital worth Uganda Shillings 1.5 billion has been operational. After building the cancer center,. 200million Uganda Shillings of the collections from the run held in 2015 was contributed towards the construction of the Rotary Blood Bank at Mengo Hospital.”

The total cost of constructing the cancer equipment bunkers is estimated at 13.5 billion Uganda Shillings, a steep figure to be sure, but with the commitment and resilience towards the fight against cancer that Ugandan Rotarians and other corporate entities such as Centenary Bank have demonstrated for the past 11 years and more, this target is sure to be met and the scourge stifled.

To learn more about this story, visit the links here:

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/editorial/cancer-run-should-awaken-us-all-in-fight-3938478

https://kawowo.com/2022/08/06/2022-rotary-cancer-run-officially-launched/