By Christine Mugo | Executive Director, KENCO and Project Leader
KENYAN NETWORK OF CANCER ORGANIZATIONS
CREATION OF AWARENESS ON CANCER AT ALL LEVELS IN KENYA – GG45511
PROJECT UPDATE REPORT
INTRODUCTION:
The Kenyan Network of Cancer Organizations (KENCO) is the National umbrella body of over 35 registered cancer civil society organizations, spread throughout the country, active in various aspects of cancer control in Kenya and committed to a united response against cancer.
KENCO participated in the GlobalGiving’s March 2020 accelerator campaign for our project entitled ‘Creating cancer awareness at various levels in Kenya.’ The project’s aim is to raise the levels of awareness on cancer and its management among health workers, patients, caregivers and the general public. The project will ensure that cancer education materials are consistently provided to patients and caregivers in cancer centres across the country by oncology health workers trained to effectively communicate with cancer patients. The project aims to train 60 health workers, print and distribute over 100 cancer counselling flipcharts to the health workers, print and distribute over 15,000 cancer and caregiver booklets and print and distribute over 50,000 cancer IECs for the general public.
To date KENCO has managed to raise over $ 7931 from 522 donors out of a target of $ 25,000. In addition, KENCO won an extra USD 2,000 (for most unique donors), USD 1,000 (on bonus day) and USD 638 in matching funds. KENCO also earned a permanent place in the GlobalGiving Platform, earned a social media badge and will get a free email promotion from GG. Overall, during the accelerator period, KENCO was positioned 16 out of 672 organizations from over 30 countries.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Kenya, like several other countries is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic. The first case was confirmed in Kenya on 12th March 2020. The rapid nature of spread of the virus hasforced theKenyan government, to take unprecedented measures such as travel bans, closure of borders, and other measures to restrict contact between individuals such as curfews, partial lockdowns of some counties and restricted access to healthcare centres with an aim to avoid straining health systems with runaway COVID-19 infections.
GlobalGiving disbursed $ 10,281.64 to KENCO on 24th April 2020. KENCO confirmed receipt of $10,250 after deduction of bank charges. The uncertainties brought about by COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down our plans but we have managed to achieve the following:
Distribution of Cancer Education Booklets for Patients and Caregivers
This being an ongoing project, KENCO already had a number of cancer education booklets for patients and caregivers courtesy of support from American Cancer society. Between March and June, and with funds raised from GlobalGiving, KENCO has managed to distribute 4000 cancer education booklets for patients and caregivers to 16 partner health facilities that have been actively distributing the materials for onward distribution to newly diagnosed cancer patients.
Creation of awareness on cancer among the general public
KENCO has continuously been raising public awareness on cancer especially during this COVID-19 pandemic through social and mass media platforms and specifically during various commemoration days as follows:
World No Tobacco Day: The Day was commemorated on 31st of May 2020. KENCO and like-minded partners carried out a social media campaign linking the use of tobacco to increased risk of cancer and vulnerability to COVID-19 mortality.
National Cancer Survivors’ Day celebrations: This Day is commemorated worldwide every first (1st) Sunday of June which was 7th of June this year. For the whole week leading to the day, KENCO sent out various social media messages to the public on Cancer and COVID-19. KENCO also organized a webinar that covered a number of topics in cancer control which included cancer control during the COVID-19 pandemic where a total of 85 participants participated. KENCO also worked with media houses and had cancer survivors attend the various media shows and share their survivorship stories to give create awareness on cancer and give hope to the public. KENCO also shared a press release on cancer survivorship with the media, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders highlighting challenges that cancer survivors have been facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for support.
Consultation with the Ministry of Health with regard to training of Health Workers on Cancer education Materials
KENCO has widely consulted with the Ministry of Health at the National Cancer Control Programme, the National Cancer Institute of Kenya and training facilitators who are based at the Kenyatta National Hospital regarding the best way to undertake the training of health workers proposed under the project amidst the restrictions brought about by COVID-19. The modalities of delivering the training (virtually), training curriculum and duration, and targeted health facilities have already been agreed on.
IMMEDIATE FUTURE PLANS
Training of Oncology Health Workers – By mid-August 2020, KENCO plans to train 25 health workers virtually from 12 health facilities offering cancer services and which have not been trained in the past.
Printing of Cancer Education Booklets – KENCO is already in the process of printing 5,000 booklets for patients and caregivers. Once printed, the booklets will be distributed to health facilities for onward distribution to newly diagnosed cancer patients
Creation of awareness on cancer through various media outlets – KENCO continues to create awareness on cancer among policy makers, patients and caregivers and the general public through the various platforms.
CONCLUSION:
Improving cancer education among health workers, cancer patients and their caregivers gives hope to cancer patients and inspires them to positively accept their diagnosis, adhere to treatment regimens leading to better health outcomes and survivorship. Creating cancer awareness among the general public promotes cancer prevention and routine screening which will ensure early detection and assure better treatment outcomes. This will ultimately reduce the cancer burden in the country. We hope that despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, we shall continue to raise more funds in order to bring our project plans to fulfillment. We also are grateful to all our donors who have continued to open their wallets and donate for us despite the pandemic. Together we shall achieve our goals.
Links:
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