"Community engagement is essential in the fight against blood cancers," says Alana James, DKMS Africa's executive director.
"The workshop is the beginning of a series of workshops that are aimed at bringing the message of blood cancer and blood stem cell transplantations to grassroots and community level. The insights that we gained on Saturday are significant and we are very excited to be able to report on them and duplicate these across other communities," adds James.
According to the campaign, South Africa is not exempted from the scourge of blood disorders, with statistics painting a grim picture of rising diagnosis rates. Every five minutes, someone in South Africa is diagnosed with a blood-related disorder.
Saturday's community engagement was held in collaboration with Jaay Blacks Youth Foundation. The foundation is a youth initiative that drives youth social projects in Khayelitsha focusing on:
- employment opportunities
- crime prevention
- education, and
- engagement.
Founder Jaay Mpeqeka says she joined the initiative out of great concern about the lack of information and awareness about blood disorders and cancers.
"I have participated in many blood stem cell donor drives and am well acquainted with the struggles of people and organisations that work in the space. Our role at Jaay Blacks is to first gain the necessary factual information and then ensure that we transmit and share this information in our own communities," concludes Mpeqeka.
The information session was facilitated by DKMS Africa at The Spade Hotel, the first four-star hotel in a South African township.
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