When Foundation, partners engage arts in fight against cancer
The power of arts in communicating health issues was last week tested in Abuja when Medicaid Cancer Foundation, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine and Maigaskiya Visuals, used the arts to create awareness on prostate cancer.
Tagged, Art4Cancer, the event, which held at the Orisun Art Gallery, was part of activities to mark this year’s World Cancer Day. The theme of the event was Brushing Off the Silence, and indeed, over 15 artists in more than 50 artworks, used their brushes and paints to tell stories about the disease.
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While some works give further insights into the issues around prostate cancer and its management, others tend to suit those living with the disease, providing necessary courage and hope.
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The figure behind the event was the wife of former governor of Kebbi State and Chief Executive Officer/founder, Medicaid Cancer Foundation, Dr Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu. Over the years, she has used the Foundation to create awareness on cancer, and has through partnerships, brought succor to cancer patients in Kebbi State and beyond.
Speaking on the choice of arts to convey her message, Bagudu said the decision hinged on the established role of art as a medium of expressing different emotions, ideas and innovations. She lamented that one of the biggest problems her Foundation has in cancer advocacy and awareness creation was getting the message to people.
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“So, we decided to go the creative route, using the talent of our home-grown artists to express what they think about cancer and appeal to our communities and people to connect to it, thereby give an image of what cancer is about to ordinary people.”  Â
Beyond creating awareness, the event also served as a fund-raising avenue for the treatment of indigent cancer patients as according to her, artworks sold at the event would be channeled to Medicaid Cancer Foundation for that purpose.
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Mrs Bagudu has been a renowned grassroots mobiliser and through her foundation, has taken the campaign against cancer to the hinterland. She said: “We work in rural areas and we come to the urban area as well. We have a big work and it is around the country and cuts across different classes of people.  Â
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“All our outreaches are in the rural areas and I totally agree that the brunt of the misinformation lies in our villages and our smaller cities.
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“That is the reason we focus on those areas. We work with partners. For this particular one, our partner is Johnson & Johnson. There were so many programmes they have sponsored which has made us able to screen over 5,000 men for prostate Cancer from 2002 till date, and we are still screening.”
Leading the team of Johnson & Johnson was the Director, Government Affairs and Policy, Mr. Ikechukwu Ofuani, who described Art4Cancer as a noble course that the company supports in raising awareness about prostate cancer.
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“So, Johnson and Johnson is a big player in that space, partnering Medicaid Foundation to ensure that there is more awareness for males above 40 years to get tested for the cancer.”
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He stated that the company remains one of the major players in the production of medication for the disease. On the choice of the art as a medium to convey the message, Ofuani admitted that there were various ways of passing messages about the disease and arts was instrumental. “Art is very influential and those who fancy and finance the art more are those of 40 years and above.”
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Another partner in the programme and convener of Maigaskiya Visuals, Abdullah-Uthman Maigaskiya, a photographer and cinematographer, said the entire idea about the event was to look at the value of arts in creating awareness and using it to draw people’s attention to certain issues that are of high importance to humanity.Â
“Medicaid Foundation decided to bring art for the advocacy. What you are seeing here is a collection of arts from different artists. The beauty of this particular exhibition is that it focused more on oncoming artists because they have dedicated time and energy to promote the arts.
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“Some of them designed their works to focus on the theme, a lot of works talk about the journey and struggle through life while others depict people that are not even aware of their situation and what needs to be done to address it.
“We believe that in today’s world, visual art is becoming a very strong tool for engagement, it is creating a vital role and also recognising the value and the important role of the media in creating awareness. It is a good idea and we appreciate the organisers for looking at the art as a vehicle. The acceptance of the art was confirmed by the crowed. It was a very positive move,” Maigaskiya said.
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The Programme Manager, Medicaid Foundation, Joshua Ochum, admitted that cancer is expensive to manage but with the Foundation, no one should stand alone to fight it.
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“We have over 15 creative artists, running from visual to painting, photography and others. About 50 artworks featured and 15 of them were set out for auctioning. The rest are sold. We have not started the auction yet and some of the works were sold.
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“Art has the strength to unite people. It is reviving. The whole idea is to create awareness for and against cancer. We are looking at generating over a N1 billion for the project.”
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