The Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) held its annual Lavender Walk in honour of World Cancer Day in Windhoek on Tuesday.
The Lavender Walk starts at the CAN head office in Windhoek West and ends at the Dr AB May Cancer Care Centre at the Windhoek Central Hospital. It signifies the journey of cancer patients as they use the same route for their medical appointments from the CAN interim homes.
This year’s World Cancer Day was commemorated under the theme ‘I can, we can’, which acknowledges that everyone has the capacity to address the burden of cancer.
Speaking at the event, CAN Chief Executive Officer Rolf Hansen said the Cancer Association of Namibia is one of the leading centres in Africa when it comes to cancer treatment.
“We are very fortunate in Namibia. I travel and I work a lot in Africa. There are countries out there that simply give cancer patients their scripts and tell them to go get their chemo or medication somewhere else,” he said.
He explained that even though they are very blessed at CAN, they can only keep on sustaining what they have, and improve on it, if the Namibian nation stands together.
Sharing similar sentiments was Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) Managing Director Marco Wenk, who said cancer ultimately impacts everybody.
“It is important that we support these initiatives and make sure that we do whatever is necessary to keep entities and facilities like these going,” Wenk said.
He further urged other companies and individuals to support these causes to create more awareness and to support those fighting cancer.
NBL donated N.dollars 140 000 to CAN during the event.
A total of 10 909 newly diagnosed cancer cases were reported in Namibia between 2015 and 2017.