Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has urged women to learn more about the different types of cancer as it can be fatal when detected too late.
The MEC was speaking on the department’s weekly multimedia programme, KZN Health Chat, near Port Shepstone.
Saturday marked World Cancer Day, which aims to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Simelane said the time had come for society to acknowledge the serious threat posed by cancer and do not think it could be wished away.
She reiterated the need for women to find ways to arm themselves with cancer information, but cautioned them to be careful of misinformation, especially when it comes to the complex disease.
“Those that are younger, let’s teach them right at an early age that they must self-test, become more conscious, and find out more about diseases and talk about it. Once we do that, it will be ingrained in them, and they will continue doing that with other generations to come, and breast cancer will not be a problem for women anymore.
“The most difficult thing is that cancer affects poor women. And it affects them not because it’s able to sniff out who’s poor and who’s not, but because sometimes poor women are not able to focus on their health… they don’t have information, and they’re too busy trying to eke out a living. So, we have a responsibility to talk to them and be able to get them to come out to get screened and tested,” Simelane said.
Simelane said the department’s message was: “Don’t be afraid of cancer. It is not a killer if it’s detected early enough. As soon as you’re able to pick it up, it can be successfully treated. You just need to find it on time.”