By Eric Haurupma – EM TV, Port Moresby
The Pacific International Hospital (PIH) today joined the rest of the world in a cancer awareness globe-a-thon this morning in Port Moresby.
This awareness march is the third that PIH has hosted, as part of the fight against cancer in the country.
Over 100 city residents gathered this morning at PIH in Port Moresby, to raise awareness against cancer.
This 5 kilometre walk around the city was aimed to educate women in the country to take screening tests and seek medical treatment as a form of early detection and prevention to fight against this disease.
Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific International Hospital, Dr Amyna Sultan said that cancer is killing up to 15,000 women in Papua New Guinea every year.
She said this can be prevented if women get diagnosed early and are treated, before it spreads to the rest of their body.
However, with limited cancer facilities in the country, treating cancer overseas is very expensive, therefore more awareness must be done for women to be screened and get treated.
Cancer advocate and participant in the globe-a-thon walk against cancer, Linda Babao O’Neill says “PNG’s cultural taboo is a contributing factor that is stopping women from taking screening and accessing medical treatment”.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop, who was also a participant in the 5 km walk in Port Moresby, said that in order to stay healthy, people must maintain a healthy lifestyle by taking up Yoga drills and walking every day to stay strong and healthy.
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