The Papua New Guinea Cancer Foundation (PNGCF) in partnership with the PNG Cancer Relief Society took the fight against cancer to Lae, Morobe Province.
The cancer fight was aimed basically at schools to provide cancer education and community awareness programs this week.
PNGCF Health Educator Jacob Oburi conducted the first Healthy Teens School Program (HTSP) for 2017 at Bubia Lutheran Primary School on Tuesday, April 4 and at the Christ the King School on Wednesday, April 5.
The HTSP workshop focuses on encouraging teens to reduce their risk of cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices today. The workshop was well received by the students that attended.
At the end of each workshop, there was a question and answer session with the PNGCF Health Educators and the volunteer medical students from the The Lae Cancer Unit answering each question that was asked.
HTSP school packs, consisting of school stationery with awareness messaging, were also handed out to students that participated during the workshops.
Oburi conducted the workshop to well over 1,400 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 from both schools.
A cervical and breast cancer education workshop was also conducted in The Catholic Church for the Christ the King community on Wednesday, April 5.
The community workshop focused on what cervical and breast cancer is, how to recognize early signs and symptoms and how to reduce the risk of developing these cancers in the future. PNGCF Health Educator Lois Booker conducted the workshop to over 70 individuals with a question and answer session at the end.
A baseline survey was also conducted on individuals that attended the workshop to better understand their general knowledge of cancer before and after the workshop.
During the two-day program, PNGCF conducted cancer education and awareness workshops to over 1, 600 individuals and distributed over 1,000 cancer education and awareness materials in the form of educational brochures, posters and school packs with awareness messaging.
PNGCF thanks the PNG Cancer Relief Society, the volunteers from the Lae Cancer Unit, the school administration and students of the Bubia Lutheran Primary School and Christ the King Primary School, and the communities of Bubia and Christ the King in Lae for their amazing support and participation.
PNGCF would also like to sincerely thank program supporters ExxonMobil, Oil Search, Moore Printing, Kumul Petroleum Ltd and Kumul Consolidated Holdings for joining the fight against cancer in PNG.