Child cancer awareness campaign to be launched

Manama : The ‘Smile’ initiative of the Future Youth Association, which provides psycho-social support to children suffering from cancer in the Kingdom, has announced its intention to organise the “Our Children as Gold” campaign for the fifth consecutive year. The President of the Society, Sabah Abdul Rahman Al Zayani said that the campaign includes a programme of events to be held in different places throughout the month of September in partnership with the public and private sectors. He explained that the events include an awareness platform held in one of the commercial complexes, the festival and a charity ceremony dedicated to support children with cancer and their parents and many others.

“We want this campaign to reach everywhere in Bahrain, to educate everyone about child cancer, its symptoms, the importance of early detection, and how to treat the sick child during the treatment phase,” Mr Al Zayani said. Mr Al Zayani explained that the month of September every year is the month of awareness about childhood cancer around the world. “We want Bahrain to be through this campaign in the ranks of developed countries in giving its citizens as much information on child cancer.” Mr Al Zayani pointed out that the organisers of the campaign is currently working on communication with partners, many government institutions and private companies, media and other entities in order to encourage them to participate in this campaign through several ways including the establishment of lectures and events awareness for employees, and encourage them to participate in the activities of the campaign field.

He said that in addition to the campaign’s main awareness goal, the initiative also aims to achieve other goals including improving psychological and social support services for children with cancer and their families, and providing a greater opportunity for heroic children with cancer to participate in a wide range of entertainment, sports, social and cultural activities. Mr Al Zayani added that the campaign “Our children as gold” also aims at raising awareness of different segments of society in Bahrain and how to deal with the children affected by the disease, and put Bahrain on the list of countries that participate annually in the event of cancer of children and highlight it.