August is Women’s Month and Bakwena N1N4 has for the seventh year partnered with PinkDrive and the Department of Health to raise awareness around breast, testicular and prostate cancer in communities adjacent to the Platinum Highway in North West Province.
Aimed at educating people about the various types of cancers (breast, prostate & testicular), early lump detection and clinical examinations, the first phase of the campaign saw nurses and caregivers receive training on 30 July at Zeerust Sub District Department of Health and Swartruggens Community Health Centre on 31 July 2019.
A second phase of the campaign involves the education and screening of the community which will be taking place at the following clinics, 12 & 13 August at Tswelelopele Clinic, 14 August, Gopane Clinic and 15 & 16 August at Lehurutshe Clinic. On the 26 August the campaign will move to the Groot Marico Clinic and on 27 & 28 August to Swartruggens Community Health Centre.
The team will also talk to learners at the schools in the areas surrounding the various clinics. This year, the Pink Drive mammography truck will be available on 15th August at Lehurutshe Clinic and 28 August at Swartruggens Community Health Centre. Prostate cancer testing kits will also be available at the outreach to men over the age of 40.
Bakwena’s corporate social investment focus areas include, but are not limited to, road safety, health, environment and heritage as well as social-economic development. Notably, the organisation initiates extensive social development programmes amongst the communities along the routes it constructs, operates, maintains and builds.
As a socially responsible company, Bakwena understands the importance of engaging in partnerships that strengthen systems such as health and education.
PinkDrive is a Public Benefit Organisation powering South Africa’s first mobile mammography and educational unit and taking its message that ‘Early Detection Can Help Prolong a life” to communities throughout South Arica. Through this partnership, to date, PinkDrive has conducted 86 mammograms, 6355 clinical breast examinations, and educated 26 473 men and women on breast, testicular and prostate cancer as well as carried out 511 PSA tests on men over the age of 40 along the N1N4 route.
Bakwena is proud to support initiatives such as these as they equip women, children and men with the necessary information and support to manage their health more effectively.
