Speaking at the press briefing, Secretary General of SESDO, Ebrima Jagne, outlined the objective of partnering with Solace Foundation and SJAG to raise awareness on breast cancer.
Jagne expressed appreciation to Solace Foundation for choosing SESDO to host the event.
He said the engagement of the community, which involves young and old, through sport is healthy.
President of Solace Foundation, Dr Lamin Jaiteh, highlighted the importance of early screening, saying timely medical intervention helps in saving life.
Dr Jaiteh stated that women in The Gambia are diagnosed late on breast cancer, adding that even 20- and 30-year-olds are experiencing cancer.
"It can easily be tackled and this can be achieved through awareness,” he assures. “Knowledge is not expensive and health is everyone’s business; Solace Foundation can’t do it alone. We believe the collaboration with SESDO and the media would help to build a team in fighting breast cancer in The Gambia."
Dr Jaiteh urges everyone to learn and share.
For his part, SJAG President Omar Jarju says Breast Cancer Awareness Day is an important event for SJAG. "We were introduced to this initiative by the leadership of SESDO and Solace Foundation.
"We are proud to associate with such a great cause, because breast cancer is a business for everybody,” Jarju said.
He calls on sports journalists to talk about issues like cancer via their various media houses, saying it is important and can be a game changer in the fight against cancer and other diseases in The Gambia.
The awareness campaign is very important since athletes are dying in line of football, Jarju emphasised: "You see athletes dying in the field due to heart failure and other life threatening diseases. Who knows those athletes; those are players who die in the field or during the course of sport."
Jarju said awareness campaigns can communicate to the public and athletes especially, which is why the media is essential in reaching out to the public.
"We have to re-strategize our ways to continue working with Solace Foundation, not only for this event, and the leadership is looking at how best they can continue collaborating.”
He also said: "We can even have yearly or monthly events to sensitise the public about diseases that are life threatening and this is one of them.
“As sports journalists, we assure you that we are going to do our utmost to make sure our listeners, readers and viewers are well aware of this very dangerous disease."
