Download Soweto By Vic ((HOT))

Wow what a lovely warm full Evening Today at Lebo back packers soweto storytelling session. I had fun and learning experience at the same time. Thanks for invitation and your welcoming spirit of Ubuntu I felt my mother ' love, I was welcomed.

ast summer, just three months after finishing her oncology training, Dr. Thina Mathiba was asked by her mentor to take the reins of the brand-new Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Excellence, which was about to open in the midst of the surging pandemic. \u201cI asked Professor Ruff, why did you pick me?\u201d Dr. Mathiba recalled. \u201cHe just said, \u2018You will be the right person for this enormous task.\u2019 And now, I have the chance to be part of something new that\u2019s never been offered here before. I was raised in Soweto, I did my early training here, and this was an opportunity for me to come back to serve my community.\u201d\r\nIt was a community in desperate need of a cancer treatment center. The new facility \u2014 located in a wing of Soweto\u2019s Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital formerly occupied by a podiatry clinic \u2014 quickly became known for the quality of the care and the kindness of the staff. Within a few months of opening, the center had seen 400 patients \u2014 which meant Dr. Mathiba herself, as the facility\u2019s sole oncologist, had seen 400 patients. Handling a caseload like that takes energy and compassion \u2014 qualities Dr. Mathiba has in abundance.\r\nThe doctor\u2019s patients realize how lucky they are. Dorcas S., currently halfway through her chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, lights up when talking about her. \u201cWhen I met my beautiful doctor, I was so happy!\u201d she said. \u201cShe gave me a shoulder to cry on. I had been told I needed chemo. I didn\u2019t even know what chemo was! Dr. Mathiba explained it. I could ask her anything, and she told me everything. I say thank God I am in the right hands.\u201d\r\nTo understand how significant this new treatment center is, context is helpful. Soweto\u2019s population is 99% Black, and the township includes many of the poorest neighborhoods in the province of Gauteng, South Africa\u2019s smallest yet most populated province. Zulu is the township\u2019s dominant language, with only 2% of inhabitants speaking English as their first language.\r\nBefore the Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Excellence opened, there were just two cancer treatment centers in the entire province, with a population of nearly 20 million. Soweto residents who received a cancer diagnosis (and couldn\u2019t afford private medical care), had two options for a treatment facility. They could travel to Johannesburg, or they could make the journey to Pretoria. In neither place would they be likely to find a staff member who spoke their language.\r\nLet\u2019s say an individual\u2019s treatment plan includes eight rounds of chemo, one every three weeks. The trip from Soweto is a long and expensive bus ride away. And when you get there, you don\u2019t see anyone who looks like you, you can\u2019t read the signs, and you have difficulty understanding what you are told. It\u2019s easy to see why many patients don\u2019t follow through on their treatment. As Dr. Mathiba pointed out, the barriers are both logistical and political. \u201cThese two facilities were built during apartheid, to serve Caucasian patients. The barriers of apartheid have fallen, yet in a way they still remain. The reality is, before our center opened, cancer patients in Soweto were largely unable to access treatment.\u201d\r\nThe reality is, before our center opened, cancer patients in Soweto were largely unable to access treatment.And those patients who were able to get to one of the treatment centers faced a months-long wait before securing an appointment, giving their cancer time to progress. Now, with the new center located on the campus of Soweto\u2019s main hospital, the journey from diagnosis to treatment means a walk down the hall rather than months of waiting and a forbidding journey to unfamiliar territory.\r\nThe Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Excellence was made possible by a grant of $1,496,352 from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting health equity around the world. Cancer outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa are far worse than in wealthier parts of the world. For example, the five-year survival rate for sub-Saharan women with breast cancer is estimated to be 50%, compared to nearly 90% in high-income countries. And in the most impoverished areas, such as Soweto township, this disparity is even greater. Addressing this disparity is why the Foundation chose Soweto for the site of the new cancer treatment center, right in the heart of the township.\r\nChallenges remain, but Dr. Mathiba is optimistic. She recently added a second oncologist to the staff, enabling the facility to see even more patients. Her focus now is on increasing capacity. The center can only administer chemotherapy to 15 patients at a time, because that\u2019s how many recliners they have. And they currently have no inpatient oncology ward, so hospitalized patients are spread across the general hospital. Most significantly, they don\u2019t yet have the equipment to provide radiation therapy, which is a vital part of treating many cancers. \u201cThis is where the big block is,\u201d Dr. Mathiba said. \u201cCurrently, the only place to get radiation is either Johannesburg or Pretoria, and the wait can be two to five years, which is unacceptable. But the government is working on this and I\u2019m hopeful we\u2019ll have a radiation bunker in the next year or two.\u201d\r\n\u201cIn South Africa, getting a cancer diagnosis is a scary thing to hear,\u201d Dr. Mathiba said. \u201cSo the person sitting across the table needs to give them hope. The patient needs to know that\u2014no matter where their journey takes them\u2014I will be with them the entire way. That\u2019s my promise to them. But none of this would have happened without the Foundation, and I am so grateful to them for having faith in us.\u201d\r\n","@type":"Article","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Bristol Myers Squibb"},"description":"Cancer outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa are worse than in many parts of the world. The new Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Excellence combats barriers to care in Soweto, a township of 1 million+ that prior to this did not have a cancer treatment center.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Bristol Myers Squibb","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":" -us/images/bms-logo-social-default-card.jpg"}},"dateModified":"2022-07-05","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":" -us/responsibility/bristol-myers-squibb-foundation/our-success-stories/bringing-cancer-care-to-soweto.html"},"@context":" ","headline":"Addressing Disparities in Cancer Treatments in Sub-Saharan Africa | Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Excellence"} function OptanonWrapper() { } (function(h,o,t,j,a,r){ h.hj=h.hj||function(){(h.hj.q=h.hj.q||[]).push(arguments)}; h._hjSettings={hjid:3715281,hjsv:6}; a=o.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; r=o.createElement('script');r.async=1; r.src=t+h._hjSettings.hjid+j+h._hjSettings.hjsv; a.appendChild(r); })(window,document,' -','.js?sv='); var digitalData={event:{eventType:"",category:"",label:"",location:""}};digitalData.page=JSON.parse("{\x22friendly_name\x22:\x22bms\u002Dcom\x22,\x22brand_name\x22:\x22BMS Corp\x22,\x22franchise_name\x22:\x22corporate\x22,\x22user_type\x22:\x22genpub\x22,\x22site_type\x22:\x22branded\x22,\x22site_country\x22:\x22us\x22,\x22language\x22:\x22en_us\x22,\x22page_type\x22:\x22brand\x22,\x22device_type\x22:\x22\x22,\x22page_status\x22:\x22HTTPS\x22,\x22site_abbreviation\x22:\x22bms\x22,\x22subcat1\x22:\x22about\u002Dus\x22,\x22subcat2\x22:\x22responsibility\x22,\x22subcat3\x22:\x22bristol\u002Dmyers\u002Dsquibb\u002Dfoundation\x22,\x22subcat4\x22:\x22our\u002Dsuccess\u002Dstories\x22,\x22subcat5\x22:\x22bringing\u002Dcancer\u002Dcare\u002Dto\u002Dsoweto\x22,\x22subcat6\x22:\x22\x22,\x22contentCategory\x22:\x22\x22,\x22contentSubCategory\x22:\x22\x22}"),digitalData.form=JSON.parse("{\x22category\x22:\x22form\x22,\x22label\x22:\x22\x22}"),/Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|iPod|BlackBerry|IEMobile|Opera Mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent)?navigator.userAgent.match(/mobile|touch/i)?digitalData.page.device_type="Mobile":digitalData.page.device_type="Tablet":digitalData.page.device_type="Desktop" Our Medicines Our Stories Skip to main content Contact Us Careers United States Close Icon AmericasArgentina