Statement at opening Ceremony of training of Nurse/Midwives on Cervical Cancer Screening, The Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital 4
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a great honour for me to address this august gathering on behalf of the Francis DeGaulle Njie Foundation.
I would like to start by giving you a brief background about the foundation and the person in the centre of it, the late Francis DeGaulle Njie, fondly called DeGaulle.
The family and friends of the late Francis DeGaulle Njie, who passed away on The 22nd May 2005 after a long battle with brain cancer, launched the Foundation two years ago. DeGaulle was a dynamic young man who believed in excellence and so worked hard to excel in everything he did in his short, but eventful and wonderful life. He believed in helping others and always said that everyone should be given the opportunity to achieve their dream.
This very young Foundation was launched on the May 2006 and registered as a charitable organisation. Its operations started with the appointment of a six-member Board of Trustees, working together with three dedicated Advisors, and mandated to initiate a programme of activities in two disciplines geared towards the social advancement of young Gambians, namely: Education and Health Promotion.
In accordance with the Foundation motto, “helping young minds achieve excellence”, the Board of Trustees agreed to focus initial activities towards the realisation of two main aims. These are:
- To enhance the educational system in The Gambia by providing support to science students.
- To raise awareness of all forms of cancer, particularly those prevalent in The Gambia; and engage in health education.
- Promotion, and provide support to affected individuals and their families.
With these in mind we established two programs, namely: the Education Programme, and the Health and Charity Programme. Work started off first with the Education Programme in the first year, and we have been able to cultivate an excellent working relationship with two schools in the Greater Banjul Area, the details of which can be obtained from our website, www.fdnf.gm.
The foundation had earlier embarked on some activities geared towards raising awareness of cancer at a couple of Fund-raising Seminar and Dinner sessions, which were widely publicised. Speakers at these sessions include Professor Ousman Nyan, Dr Maimuna Mendy, Dr Ebrima Bah, Dr Ulric Jones, and Dr Sam Anya; and they spoke at length on common cancers in The Gambia, their causes and possible ways of preventing them. This, of course, included Cervical Cancer and the importance of appropriate screening for detecting cases in the early stages of the development of the disease, thus making treatment possible and saving lives.
Late last year the Health and Charity Sub-Committee of the Foundation established links with the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital through a courtesy call paid to the Chief Medical Director, Dr Mariatou Jallow. She introduced the Committee to the Hospital’s Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Yarini, to facilitate collaboration with the hospital on cancer-related activities.
After several meetings with Dr Yarini, who from our initial meeting, expressed great interest in the Foundation’s proposed areas of collaboration, we agreed that the problem of late presentations of cervical cancer cases is a particular area of concern in The Gambia. We also believe that the situation can be alleviated if Nurse/Midwives at key health facilities, including Major Health Centres in the rural areas, are trained to be able to screen and assess patients properly and refer them early for better management and possible treatment, thus giving them better quality of life.
After many meetings and negotiations, we are finally here today to witness the beginning of a series of collaborative activities with the RVTH aimed at achieving a goal of curbing the incidence of cervical cancer in The Gambia. We pray and hope that the couple of training sessions planned will go a along way in strengthening the capacity of the Nurse/Midwives in major and minor health facilities of the country by improving their diagnostic and screening skills, thereby averting or at least curbing late presentations of cervical cancer in our communities.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees and Advisors of the Francis DeGaulle Njie Foundation, I wish you well in your deliberations and exercises over the next few days.
Thank you for your kind attention.