Project PINK BLUE’s World Cancer Day 2018 walk holds tomorrow in Abuja

Project PINK BLUE, a cancer-fighting nonprofit will be commemorating the 2018 World Cancer Day with a walk, race, cycling and marathon against cancer activities in Abuja, beginning from tomorrow. The activities include free cancer screenings, a symposium as well as a donation campaign to support cancer patients.

“This year we are more interested in matching talks with action, we have been talking a lot, we need to see progress, we need Federal Government to set up one stop comprehensive cancer care,” says Runcie Chidebe, executive director of Project PINK BLUE. “We need National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover cancer, we want the Nigeria’s National Cancer Control Plan to be budgeted for and implemented, we need Nigerians to engage in regular screenings, we need everyone to learn about cancer.”

Many Nigerian celebrities, journalists and activists will be participating in the walk scheduled to begin at Abuja’s Transcorp Hilton Hotel by 7am; those that will be participating in the walk include Sadiq Daba, a veteran actor who was diagnosed of prostate cancer in 2015. Others are Joe Okei-Odumakin, a women’s right activist, Dapo Olorunyomi, a veteran journalist and publisher of Premium Times, Nigeria’s leading digital newspaper.

Moreover, Project PINK BLUE will on Friday February, 9 2018, host a symposium on cancer which will have in attendance high-level stakeholders to discuss Nigeria’s progress in the campaign against cancer and the way forward.

At the event, Isaac Adewole, Nigeria’s minister of health will launch Nigeria’s National Cancer Control Plan (2018 -2022) while P.O. Ebigbo, board chair of Project PINK BLUE will launch the Upgrade Oncology: U.S. – Nigeria Science & Technology Exchange Program, a medical oncology training program funded by the United States Embassy in Nigeria.

Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, chair of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases cum sponsor of the bill for the establishment of the National Institute for Cancer Research & Treatment will also speak on the bill already signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The World Cancer Day 2018 activities are being organized by Project PINK BLUE in collaboration with Premium Times, U.S. Mission in Nigeria, Transcorp Hilton, Dana Air, and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), BellaNaija and Federal Ministry of Health.

World Cancer Day is a global event commemorated on February 4 of every year and is recognized by United Nations and supported by Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).