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Locadia Mavhudzi Midlands Correspondent.
The National Aids Council (NAC) has rolled out cancer awareness programmes across all districts in the Midlands Province.

NAC’s acting provincial manager Mr Tobias Machakata said the target groups were the focal people in communities who could help disseminate knowledge in a way that communities appreciated.

“There is a general belief among rural communities that traditional healers can cure cancer,” he said.

“We are engaging these healers because in many cases they fuel cancer cases through the use of uncertified herbs.”

Mr Machakata said it was the relationship between cancer and HIV that prompted them to prioritise cancer awareness and leaders should mobilise their communities to be screened.

Our main message is to sensitise community leaders to spearhead prevention and management of both communicable and non-communicable diseases in children and adults,” he said.

“While we have made strides in HIV awareness, cancer knowledge is still low in rural settings.”

Mr Machakata said the cancer awareness campaign was part of a national programme to scale up cancer training, screening and management in the country.

“As NAC, we are educating health workers, the community and women in particular, focusing on community sensitisation, linking service provision and demand, health literacy, advocacy, research and spread community awareness on cancer,” he said.

“The project is in line with the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s mission to address the needs of our community so that people can fully attain their health potential, appreciate health as a valuable asset and take positive actions to further improve and sustain their health status.”

The Ministry of Health and Child Care are also in the  process of mobilising mobile cervical cancer clinics to rural areas across the country so that people can be screened for free.

According to NAC, 75 percent of cancer cases are unknown, while the remainder is inherited genetically.