17 Oncology Nurse Medical Students from Addis Ababa University, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, comprising from all five regional cancer centers along with their two Norwegian teachers visited Mathiwos Wondu- YeEthiopia Cancer Society.

During their visit, they were given detailed presentation on how & why MWECS came in to existance,its vision, mission & objectives, some of its contributions to national cancer control, challenges it is facing & trying to achieve in the future. Then followed discussion with the society’s executive director about how to prevent and control cancer in Ethiopia.

Through their discussion, Mr. Wondu Bekele, the Executive Director of the Society, briefed that the society passed through rough & difficult circumstances & how it have been struggling to survive thus far and today’s success is the result of the challenges we faced & self less contribution of our members,volunteers,staffs & generous support of our partners & donors.

Mr. Wondu stressed that the awareness of the community and their commitment against cancer should be supported through different campaigns and engagements. If the community’s awareness on the prevention is raised, we can control and overcome on cancer. He noted that lack of awareness is another big problem here in Ethiopia. There is lack of awareness about the magnitude of the problem in the country. There are also stigma and misconceptions about cancer; that all cancers are incurable. There is little work done, to date, to promote the awareness that most cancers can be prevented, can be cured if diagnosed early, and quality of life of patients can be improved even if the disease is diagnosed in advanced stage.

Ms. Madeline, the Student Coordinator and teacher at the Addis Ababa University Faculty of Medicine, acknowledged the remarkable progress the society had made, and vowed her commitment to work closely with the society.

The participants on their part noted that the society had a lot of endeavors as they tried to see what we are doing, but we should work ahead because we have not done much in terms of promoting the image of our society.