Businessman Div Damodar has pledged to back charity organisation Walk On Walk Strong Kids Fiji in their latest campaign on early childhood cancer detection.

The Damodar Group chief executive officer launched the ‘Help a Child with a Dollar’ campaign in Suva yesterday, which was designed to garner contributions from the public, as well as circulate information about detecting early childhood cancer.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Damodarsaid kids in Fiji were being denied timely treatment because of the inadequate detection information on childhood cancer.

“I think the biggest issue we face in Fiji is that people are just not aware of it (early signs),” he said.

“There were incidents specifically in the rural areas, where medicine and technology is not on par with urban areas, when kids and parents come to the very last stages before seeking help in the city.

“WOWS and the programme wants to get that information out there.

“We want to get a bigger platform like last year when we reached out to a 100,000 people.

“The Damodar Group wants to assist the organisation in creating such a platform.”

Mr Damodar was buoyed by the support of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and their continued efforts in upgrading technology.

“In Australia and New Zealand, the medical technology is very advanced than what is available here,” he said.

“On that note, I would like to acknowledge the Honourable Minister Rosy Akbar who is giving a lot of personal attention to the children’s ward.

“She and her team are doing a fantastic job in bringing our medical technology up to par.”

WOWS Kids Fiji board member Dom Sansom echoed Mr Damodar’s words while imploring caregivers to pay attention to their child’s sudden health changes.

“Awareness of child cancer is the most important thing. Most of the children that die of cancer in Fiji die because their cancer was too far advanced.” Mr Sansom said.

“You can raise as much money as you want, which is great, but when your kid is sick just get them to hospital early.”

During the launch, the not-for-profit organisation also announced a Walk and Fun Run scheduled today.

WOWS Kids Fiji is affiliated to the Tae Kami Foundation in Tonga and the two regularly join hands to assist patients and families who struggle with cancer.

Edited by Rusiate Mataika

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