01 September 2016

Bakwena teams up with PinkDrive to raise cancer awareness during Women’s Month

Submitted by: MyPressportal Team


Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire, operator of the N1N4 highway, has again teamed up with PinkDrive Breast Cancer Initiative and the Department of Health to launch an awareness campaign for breast, testicular and prostate cancer among various communities along the N1N4 route.

Charmaine van Wyk, Bakwena public relations manager, explains the motive for the campaign this Women’s Month: “Statistics on breast cancer in particular are a growing concern, and this is often due to inadequate education and  lack of facilities being available in some  communities. The need for early detection is enormous, which is why we are supporting PinkDrive’s message of ‘Early Detection Saves Lives’.”

PinkDrive has educated over 30 000 women, provided over 19,000 self-examinations and have carried out over 4,000 free mammograms.

Following Bakwena’s hugely successful campaign during 2015 in the far west when it covered the areas of Dinokana, Lehurutshe, Zeerust, Groot Marico and Swartruggens, the current Bakwena/PinkDrive campaign launches in the North West at Majakaneng Clinic on Monday and Tuesday (15th & 16th August), Bapong Health Clinic on Wednesday and Thursday (17th& 18th) and Friday (19th) at the Modderspruit Clinic. The campaign then moves on to Hammanskraal, at Jubilee Gateway Clinic (29th August), Kekana Gardens (30th), Ramotse Clinic (31st), Temba Clinic (1st September) and Mandisa Xiceka Clinic on 2nd September.

“The campaign covers extensive education on the various types of cancers, early lump detection and clinical examinations. Caregivers from the community are also invited prior to the start of the campaign to attend the training that is provided by the PinkDrive nurses, in order to equip them with knowledge of the importance of early detection, and to ensure the education is carried far and wide after the campaign.

“Learners from the high schools in the area are also included in the education around early detection,” says Van Wyk.

Published in Health and Medicine