The Bungoma County First Lady Caro Wangamati on Thursday launched an innovative cancer prevention and management program that will be implemented by AMREF Health Africa in conjunction with Roche East Africa in Bungoma County.
The goal of the unique program is to increase access to breast and cervical cancer care (preventive, curative & rehabilitative services) by ensuring inclusivity of community members living with disabilities.
The pilot will initially target 2 disability areas (visual, as well as hearing and speech impairment), before scaling to other disabilities based on research that will have been documented.
The First Lady acknowledged the proposition as a noble idea and formerly endorsed the 14 Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) who have been tasked with the mandate of implementing the program.
The composition of the 14 CHVs is unique as it comprises; 6 CHVs living with hearing and speech impairment, 4 CHVs leaving with visual impairment, and 4 CHVs without any disability.
AMREF Health Africa will leverage on its Leap Smart technology to;
Train the hearing and speech impaired using visuals which work for them, delivered through smart phones illustrating cases of breast and cervical cancer-screening, symptoms, and interpretation of results.
Train the blind, by deploying simplified audio content to the target audience in their preferred language for ease of understanding. This will be achieved using Leap’s Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) functionality.
This event was also attended by senior health officials in Bungoma County including the reproductive health coordinator and Sub County reproductive coordinators from Kanduyi and Bumula Sub Counties
The culmination of the event was the crowning of Her Excellency the First Lady as the brand Ambassador of the Roche E.A funded project.