The Okapi Children Cancer Foundation will stage its 6th annual childhood cancer awareness walk in Abuja to raise awareness on childhood cancer in Nigeria.
The event slated for Saturday, September 24, 2022, will take off at 7am from Sandralia Hotel in Utako area of Abuja and will be flagged off by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib M. Belgore.
Tagged ‘2022 Walk of Hope’, the event is also themed, “Walk Of Hope (for children fighting Cancer).”
According to a statement signed by the Project Director, Dr. Ozy Okonokhua, on behalf of the Foundation, the 6-kilometre walk was aimed at creating awareness on Childhood Cancer in Nigeria as it is established that public enlightenment is the first step in fighting the disease.
“The event will also serve as an opportunity for us to call on all stakeholders in the cancer advocacy space, policy makers and the Nigerian Government to make Childhood Cancer a National Priority. Children fighting cancer are being disregarded and childhood cancer has been continually relegated to the back ground in the grand scheme of things.
“The overall effect of the scourge of childhood cancer on the family system is catastrophic, parents have been forced to quit their jobs to care for these children, ultimately leading to an economic down turn of the nation. Okapi Children Cancer Foundation hereby calls on Government at all levels, policy makers and religious leaders to provide adequate support to cushion the effect of the disease on families, support the inclusion of treatment for Childhood cancer in the NHIS coverage and offer some socio-economic support to families with children fighting cancer.
“As a Foundation, we have been supporting children (and families with children) fighting cancer solely with proceeds raised at our fundraising events, without any support from Government.
“While we wait the government’s intervention, we call on all benevolent Nigerians to support the efforts of the Okapi Children Cancer Foundation in providing succour to children battling cancer. A charity shop has been opened and all proceeds from the sale of items will go to supporting children fighting cancer,” Okonokhua stated.
