The Roger Hau’ofa Kidney Foundation is a locally grown organisation that was started in memory of the late radio personality, Roger Hau’ofa, to assist citizens with kidney related diseases.
Founder of the foundation and daughter of late Roger Hau’ofa, Michelle Hau’ofa, said it was her father’s desire to use his own calamity to help others with similar kidney illnesses.
“We all have different experience but there’s commonalities like that and we really began to see how difficult it is for our people. If you are diagnosed with kidney disease in PNG there is a 100 percent case fatality rate which means you die sooner, rather than later.”
Hau’ofa said treating kidney disease is a very expensive process, ranging from K120 per dialysis per day for a public service to K1,000 per day for private service, which culminates to K3,000 at a minimum per week.
Hau’ofa further highlighted the main objectives of the foundation.
“First is to promote a healthy lifestyle as a means of preventing kidney disease,” she said.
“You know if you can prevent it that really is the best way.
“The second objective is to provide quality accessible affordable treatment to patients who need dialysis or any kind treatment.
“The third objective that came out of the heart of the family is to support the carers as well as the patients. It’s a hard journey for the patients and hard for the family who cares for the patients and the fourth objective is to work collaboratively with all our stakeholders.
“We’ve made a very conscious decision to support the department of health and our hospitals, we believe that’s the sustainable way to address the issue.”
Among several methods of fundraisers, the Foundation is planning to do a major fundraising drive called, ‘Shave your hair’ on February 27th. Michelle Hau’ofa will take the lead in shaving her hair for the first time.
She hopes to raise around K200,000.
(Michelle Hau’ofa, founder of Roger Hau’ofa Foundation)