Louis Ibah
Dana Airline Limited says it has sealed a partnership deal with Project Pink Blue (PPB) to curb the spread of prostate cancer among Nigerian men as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) project in the country.
The Accountable Manager/COO of Dana Air, Mr. Obi Mbanuzuo, while speaking during a visit by the Project Pink Blue team to the corporate headquarters of Dana Air said, “at some point in 2014, we just felt the need to redirect our CSR drive. We realised that cancer was becoming a big secret killer but the awareness was really low. Then we decided to partner Project PINK BLUE to assist survivors, create more awareness and conduct free screening exercise for Nigerians at intervals.:
Under the terms of the partnership, the two organisations would work jointly to conduct free prostate cancer screening for 3, 000 men across Nigeria.
The free screening initiative, which is tagged- “Men on Blue project” will commence from June 29, 2019 and will hold in Abuja, Niger State, Nasarawa State, River State, and Akwa Ibom State.
The Executive Director of Project Pink Blue, Runcie C.W. Chidebe, while commending Dana Air for supporting Project Pink Blue since 2015, noted: “Every October, several organisations create awareness about breast and cervical cancer. However, prostate cancer is always missing, leaving several men to die in silence and pain of discovering their prostate cancer at late stages.
“Cancer is responsible for 70, 327 deaths annually in Nigeria and prostate cancer has become a major health concern among men and it is the leading cause of cancer death among men with incident rates of 32.8 per 100, 000 men and mortality rates of 16.3 per 100, 000 men. Over 15 Nigerian men die every day from prostate cancer
.“We sincerely appreciate Act Foundation for the funds and Dana Air for always supporting and we strongly believe that this health intervention “Men on Blue” will help phase out late diagnosis of prostate cancer in Nigeria.”