Monalisa Chinda, popular actress has collaborated with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration, NAFDAC, to sponsor about 10 women for fibroid surgery across the country.
At the inauguration of the project in Abuja, Chinda under her Arise Monalisa Foundation, said apart from being driven by the zeal to ‘give back’ to her society, she was motivated to help women with such health issues after having lost about 2 relations to fibroid disease.
“This is a cause that is very close to my heart because at every stage you get in life, you just want to give back to the society. I choose fibroid because people don’t really talk about it. I have had two aunties who lost their lives because of fibroid and everybody just keep doing the same old cliché of giving to motherless babies home while not caring for health,” she said.
The actress noted that, “Every year, my foundation supports a cause and this year, we are on another campaign- the Uterus Fibroid Awareness. We found out that the society views fibroid as a normal sickness for a woman and not much is said about it. The mission is to educate, build a support network and also to treat identified cases across Nigeria.”
She said that the project is basically about helping 10 women to get treated of fibroid. “We want to start small. We are talking about surgeries or lesser treatments depending on the magnitude of the condition,” she said.
Chinda explained that in partnering with NAFDAC, the project was looking at the drugs and partnerships with other hospitals that would help these women who cannot afford the cost of these surgeries.
Paul Orhii, Director-General of NAFDAC, said that fibroid as women’s disease is shrouded in secrecy and ignorance, and that the awareness that the actress has started will be backed with solutions.
“On our side, it is already our duty to safeguard the health of the nation. What you are doing is already our duty, you are only helping us to carry it out and we appreciate you and partner with you in this course,” he said.
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