KILELE Health Association,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 a local Non-Profit that works with cancer survivors and caregivers to increase the quality of life in survivorship, has launched\u00a0 <\/strong>Thamani Yetu Initiative, a social campaign<\/em><\/strong> which aims at providing 20,000 women and girls with awareness and education about cervical health, and reaching 5,000 eligible women and girls with information and interventions to access screening and vaccination against cervical cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths among Kenyan women, yet it is preventable with the HPV Vaccine and easily detectable\/curable in its early stages. Sadly the GLOBOCAN report 2020 indicates that 15 women are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer each day in Kenya, and 9 women die daily. These women are at their prime, who are active contributors to the economy, and are the glue that holds families, small businesses and communities together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thamani Yetu<\/em> initiative is a response to  the WHO 2020 Global strategy<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>to accelerate the elimination of Cervical Cancer as a public health problem. The Global WHO Strategy calls on governments to enable 90% of girls to be fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by age 15, 70% of women are screened at ages 35 and 45 years, and 90% of women identified with pre-cancer or invasive cervical cancer receive treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thamani Yetu <\/em>targets to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer in Kenya by reaching four (4) Million women and girls in support of implementation of the WHO 90-70-90 strategy towards cervical cancer elimination. As part of the Thamani Yetu<\/em> advocacy plan, KILELE Health flagged off its Champion for Prevention Limo Kipkemoi, an avid ultra runner, who is now adding a male voice to the cervical cancer awareness conversation. Through the Mount Kenya Ultra Runs, Limo ran up Mt. Kenya five times as part of his support to the awareness and prevention advocacy and is committed to raise awareness on the Global Call by raising Kshs. 1 million to provide 5,000 women with services for subsidized screening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBy 2040, it is estimated that Cervical cancer deaths will rise by nearly 50% if we don’t act. These deaths can be averted if we act today,\u201d said Benda Kithaka, Executive Director, KILELE Health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am concerned because 50% of Kenya\u2019s workforce is made up of women. We want to ensure our women continue to work and contribute to the economy productively, however they need to access screening and timely treatment so that we ultimately eliminate cervical cancer.\u201d Kithaka added<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during the flag off event, Limo said, \u201cBy taking up a physical challenge that is hard to do, we raise awareness about the cause\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with KILELE Health, we are reminding the world that everyone can contribute, every community matters, and every country can eliminate cervical cancer. I am calling on corporates, friends and relatives to donate to the course for every step I take up the mountain. This will enable a woman at our workspaces or in our families to be screened and treated so that we ultimately eliminate cervical cancer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), prevention offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for cancer control.  30% and 50% of cancer deaths could be prevented by modifying or avoiding key risk factors, and existing evidence-based prevention strategies. KILELE Health will utilize any funds as part of the campaign to reach 4 Million Women and Girls by the year 2027, equipping them with tools to prevent cervical cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cKilele Health is joining worldwide leaders, cancer survivors, advocates, partners, and stakeholders to call for action to eliminate cervical cancer through dialogue. There are over 30 organizations in Kenya that are working in cancer to bring resources, information and interventions for people to prevent and even cure some cancers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benda Kithaka says, \u201cIt takes all of us to create a Cervical Cancer-free-future for current as well as generations to come. In Kenya\u00a0 3,200 women are dying annually of a preventable disease. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every woman with a cervix is at risk and HPV vaccination, early screening for early detection and timely diagnostics and treatment can save the life of a sister, mother, daughter or a friend.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KILELE Health Association,\u00a0 a local Non-Profit that works with cancer survivors and caregivers to increase the quality of life in survivorship, has launched\u00a0 Thamani Yetu Initiative, a social campaign which aims at providing 20,000 women and girls with awareness and education about cervical health, and reaching 5,000 eligible women and girls with information and interventions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":889,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions\/889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kassfm.co.ke\/digital\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}