It was a cheerful moments for men in Nyanya, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when Project Pink Blue (a non- governmental organisation) in partnership with Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) carried out test on men for Prostate cancer.
The life saving initiative is for 2000 men from 35 years and above.
An excitement beneficiary, Mr. James Onache, lauded Project Pink Blue for the initiative calling on other stakeholders to key into the gesture.
The Program Director of Project Pink Blue, Sarah Dantsoho, explained that the initiative is focused on prostate cancer awareness, free prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, support health education and navigation.
According to her, Men on Blue is one of Nigeria’s first prostate cancer initiative that has been working in different cities across the country.
She further explained that Men on Blue project has distributed over 1000 awareness materials in different local languages including Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin and English.
Dantsoho added that at diagnostic centres, a PSA test cost N6,000 to N10,000, however through the funding from ACT foundation, all the 2000 men will be screened for free.
She advised Nigerians to take their health seriously and be mindful of what they eat adding that prostate cancer has become the most common cause of cancer among Nigerian men.
“We are also urging companies to focus on the health of their workforce by incorporating prostate cancer screenings part of their annual events and government at all levels to match their commitments with actionable investments in addressing the burden of cancer,” she said.
Also, Nollywood veteran Ambassador for Prostate Cancer awareness, Bruno Iwoha, lauded the initiative and urged Nigerians to constant check up on their Health and to also adhere to doctors’ advice.
He also urged men to come out en mass and take advantage of the free testing adding that the good gesture is rare to come by.