OCA to hold annual walkathon on October 31

PINK INITIATIVE: The walkathon will be the culmination of a month-long initiative and will have its theme on ‘A walk for life’

The Oman Cancer Association will holds it 14th annual walk on October 31 at Qurum Natural Park with the theme, ‘A walk for life’.

This years walkathon will be the culmination of our month long pink ribbon initiative conducted in the commercial malls, hotels and eateries across the country through the support of OCA’s branches.

“The walkathon is symbolic and we intend it to be fun for all ages. There will be performances, food stalls and plenty of fluid replacement. The strategy of the walkathon is intended, especially within the children and the youths, to leave an imprint that cancer is not a dangerous disease and a calamity if it is early diagnosed,” said Dr Waheed al Kharousi, Chairman of Oman Cancer Association.

The walk will be just under three km and within a safe environment. Supporting the event T-Shirts will be on sale at the venue and before at the Association and in the Malls during the Pink initiative.

“We hope during this event to raise funds to support the Association activities especially for our different projects.”

The Association would like to thank all our previous patrons of the walkathon and those who will join us for the first time. This walkathon would not have been possible if it were not for the support of different governmental institutions especially the Royal Oman Police and the Muscat Municipality.

Special thanks to the media for their continuos support of the Association since its inception and in particular for the walkathon and the Pink Ribbon Initiative.

OCA officials also thanked the sponsors who contributed to the success of this years walkathon and specifically the main sponsors, who are Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO), Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Occidental of Oman (Oxy), Mohsin Haidar Darwish (MHD), Omantel, Mohammed Saud Bahwan, Oman LNG LLC, National Bank of Oman (NBO) and Oman Oil Company.

“Finally thanks to all our volunteers who have worked very hard to make these October advocacy events a success together with our hard working dedicated staff at the Association,” concluded Dr Al Kharousi.

The Association commitment to fighting all cancers has developed a number of sustainable landmark projects such as the mobile mammography reaching to all women in Oman, the Dar Al Hanan for cancer children to ensure continuous outpatient treatment and follow up for children residing outside the capital Muscat, palliative care training for nurses and doctors, patients support programmes for cancer survivors from counselling to provision of training for self Breast examination and clinical examination for the community,outreach awareness community based programmes, workshop and courses for different population connected to cancer management, Supporting the introduction of Palliative care in Oman and conducting Human Resource Development programmes and research.

The Association advocate for cancer as a strategic disease and must be tackled aggressively to reduce morbidity and mortality amongst our people and reduce the burden of this disease especially socio-economically through prevention and awareness.