Breast
Cancer Awareness Month Launched
By Stan
Bishop
The
official launch of this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness
Month was held last Wednesday with a press conference convened
in the Conference Room of Consolidated Foods Limited at Choc.
The launch was held as a result of the collaborative efforts
of CFL, the Saint Lucia Cancer Society and Yoplait.
Representatives from the Saint Lucia Cancer Society, the Ministry
of Health and Consolidated Foods Limited were on hand to spell
out some of the aspects the disease entails, especially in
the areas of prevention and treatment.
In his brief remarks, president of the Saint Lucia Cancer
Society, Dr. David Bristol, expressed both his personal as
well as his organization’s delight in CFL and Yoplait
teaming up with the local Cancer Society to increase the level
of awareness regarding the issue of breast cancer.
He also highlighted CFL’s continued support of the Saint
Lucia Cancer Society’s goals and objectives and singled
out the supermarket chain for one key objective the Cancer
Society hails a landmark.
Vice-president of the Saint Lucia Cancer Society and oncologist,
Dr. Owen Gabriel, revealed a grim picture of the disease’s
effect on the local society. He explained that the health
of citizens should be a priority so as to ensure that the
proliferation of preventable diseases does not occur.
“In St. Lucia, breast cancer is the first cause of mortality
for cancer among women and that is followed by cancer of the
cervix. We hear lots of talk about things like HIV and other
types of diseases but cancer itself is a monumental task;
it’s a public health problem in St. Lucia.
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Consolidated
Foods Limited’s Marketing Manager, Sancha Raggie-James,
outlined the new campaign that will form part of this year’s
Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities. She said the initiative
bodes well for the future in the way more awareness can be
used to address some of the factors related to the detrimental
disease.
“Yoplait, for the past eighteen years, has been committed
internationally to causes and raising awareness of women’s
health. This year, Super J and Yoplait have teamed up to bring
a major breast cancer campaign to St. Lucia. Our involvement
this year will be on two levels. We have the “Yoplait
Save Lids To Save Lives” campaign and the “Yoplait
Walk For Cancer 2008,” Ms. Raggie-James outlined.
“With the “Save Lids To Save Lives” campaign,”
she continued, “through this campaign, anyone who purchases
Yoplait yoghurt with a pink lid from October 1 to November
16, Super J and Yoplait will donate ten cents (on each unit
of yoghurt) to the Saint Lucia Cancer Society,” Ms.
Raggie-James said.
The ten cent per lid initiative will be derived from an automatic
deduction at the point of sale from all Super J stores, Eroline’s
Supermarket, Ultramart, Dilly’s Supermarket, Glace Supermarket
and Allain’s Supermarket. At the end of the campaign,
the monetary presentation will be made to the Saint Lucia
Cancer Society.
Another significant aspect of this year’s Breast Cancer
Awareness Month activities is the Walk For Cancer scheduled
for November 2. The walk commences near Caribbean Cinemas
and proceeds to Pigeon Island.
The feature address was delivered by Chief Medical Officer
in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Josiah Rambally.
The general public is being solicited to be informed of the
various activities and programmes that will mark this year’s
Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to wear the colour pink
to show solidarity for the cause.
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