Aisha Abba Abdullahi Memorial Foundation reaffirms dedication to fight blood cancer in Nigeria
A non-profit organisation, the Aisha Abba Abdullahi Memorial Foundation (aka 3AM Foundation), has reiterated its commitment towards the maintenance and improvement of facilities and programmes for the diagnosis and treatment of blood cancer in Nigeria.
The Aisha Abba Abdullahi Memorial Foundation (aka 3AM Foundation), is a non-profit organisation dedicated to realising a blood cancer- free Nigeria, by creating awareness, driving advocacy and delivering support that range from affordable and effective treatment options; blood donations and support groups to counselling.
Huseina Baba-Inna, founder of Aisha Abba Abdullahi Memorial Foundation, during a courtesy visit to Dr Hassan Gimba, Publisher/CEO of Neptune Prime Network in Abuja, said the organisation aimed to maintain and improve facilities and programmes for the benefit of blood cancer patients, their families and caregivers in battling the menace of blood cancer in Nigeria.
She said, “In March 2019, my daughter Aisha was diagnosed of leukaemia (a type of blood cancer), she battled cancer for eight months before we lost her. So having experienced the harsh realities and challenges of battling cancer, we decided to create the foundation so that we can change the narrative of cancer diagnosis in Nigeria.
Speaking on the achievements of the foundation, Ms Baba-Inna said, “Even though we are still new and still in our formative stages, all thanks to Allah, we have received two awards last year. One by the Nigerian Cancer Society and another by the National Blood Service Commission. Both awards are a sign of achievement.
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“The Nigerian Cancer Society awarded us for the achievement of creating awareness to communities. Yes! I believe that is a huge achievement because people have started to realise that cancer is not a death sentence, and we’ve also tried to counsel all those myth concerning blood donations and people have started coming out to donate blood to assist cancer patients.
“We still have a long way to go but we have started and we are making the impact we intend to make. The National Blood Service Commission also awarded us in June last year for bridging the gap of the availability of blood banks. There is a very huge gap of the ratio of blood needed to the population of Nigeria and we are trying to close that gap.
About the ultimate goal of the organisation, she said the Aisha Abba Abdullahi Memorial Foundation (aka 3AM Foundation) hopes to maintain and improve facilities and programmes to help blood cancer patients battle cancer, a silent killer in the society.
“The 3AM Foundation has its own blood bank where it can cater for blood cancer patients because of their constant need of blood and blood product transfusion. This will reduce the cost of blood screening and accessibility.
“Our goal number two is to see that all blood cancer patients receive timely quality treatment universally. Having huge reduction in the cost of medication and treatment, and having access to facilities where they can get treated properly.
Huseina Baba-Inna mentioned funding as one of the main challenges mitigating the eradication of the deadly disease.
“The biggest barrier is always funding. Whatever we hope to achieve, if the capacity is not there we cannot do it. If we don’t have funding, then there is nothing we can do. So we are calling on government and people to look into this and try to support well-meaning organisations to enable them mitigate the causes of such terminal diseases.
“The barrier is not just restricted to funding because it doesn’t have to be funding in cash. There can be supply of medication, making treatment facilities available, supply of machines to diagnose and all the necessary things that will assist the patients. It is important to note that the timely access to medication will go a long way in fighting blood cancer in Nigeria,” she said.
