The fight against cancer has been given a major boost with the opening of a cancer screening centre coinciding with the official launch of the PinkTober awareness month.

A ceremony was held at the ANZ Bank on Monday morning to launch the awareness program with a SAT$10,000 donation from the bank, on top of the opening of the new cancer screening centre at the main front entrance of the bank with the service offered free to the public.

Guests at the PinkTober launching included the Samoa Cancer Society C.E.O. Su'a John Rya, Health Director General, Aiono Dr. Alec Ekeroma, Miss Samoa Moemoana Safa'ato'a Schwenke, and the Minister for Health, Valasi Tafito Selesele who officially launched the fundraising. 

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Su'a recalled the journey of the society and Pinktober over the years, saying it has been successful in spreading awareness around the country. However, incidences of cancer cases continue to increase. 

"For the Samoa Cancer Society, Pinktober is really important for us because it's a month where we get to raise awareness for breast cancer, in particular, but all cancers in general," said Su'a. "When we launch Pinktober, it's always with our key partner which is ANZ because it raises awareness and gives us visibility in the community so having our partner ANZ host the launch of Pinktober is so important for us and just starts the month off in the right way and gets things moving in the right direction.

"To top it off, ANZ kindly donated a significant amount of money of $10,000 which is so important for an NGO like Cancer Society which helps us fund our patient support activities and I can't say thank you enough.

"Our office is up at the hospital so it's a little bit out of the way for everyone to come so a couple of days of the week, our team are going to be here, our registered nurse and a couple of members from our team, and a very kind thank you to ANZ because we now have this opportunity to do screening here in town."

Check-ups which can be done at the new screening centre at the ANZ Bank include checking health vitals, having a conversation about medical history, and then if required examinations. It is available twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm.

To reduce the risks of getting cancer, Su'a recommended that citizens should return to traditional Samoan food and fruits as well as doing normal exercises such as doing chores at home and walking in the evenings.

"There are some things that trigger these as well so if we live an unhealthy lifestyle where we're not exercising, not getting out and doing some work, and when I say 'exercise' I'm not saying go to the gym or go do this. But the work that we normally do in our community and in our Samoan culture counts as exercise one hundred per cent," he said.

"You go out and you do your feaus and you work on your plantations and do your gardens, get out and go for a walk in the evening so long as you do a decent physical activity that raises your blood pressure and you can feel your heart rate going faster and you work up a sweat."

According to Su'a – there is very strong medical evidence that helps reduce the chances of getting cancer – such as eating healthier diets, drinking lots of water and coconut, and staying away from soft drinks or any sugary drinks.

"Again, when we're talking about eating healthy, we're talking about you have to go buy expensive imported food and vegetables, the staff we have here are fantastic," he added.

"Our natural fruits and vegetables that we have here are laupele, moringa (tamaligi aiga), it's fantastically healthy for you and these are the things that over the cause of development, these kinds of things get pushed to the side, our traditional food but we'd like to encourage everyone to go back to traditional food.

"Back then when I was going out in the villages, the meals would be whatever they caught in the sea and whatever they harvested from their plantations and now we tend to go for canned food and frozen food and it's not good for you so the more we change our diets the better this is for us."

The Health Minister, in his remarks, acknowledged the ongoing efforts of the society for the past 21 years in promoting and reinforcing the essence of early detection, recognising the signs and symptoms, seeking medical advice and learning to do breast self-examinations.

"We want a cancer-free Samoa and whilst realistically, this may take a few years to achieve, the Cancer Society in the meantime, will continue to provide practical support that includes giving access to quality of life, access to mobility equipment, nutritional advice, emotional support and home visits for patients and families that are living with cancer," said Valasi. "We play a big part in making things happen...

"The facilitation of helping with travel and support plans for overseas treatment, creating a platform with potential community donors and sponsors who are able to help out financially, and advocating our health services for cancer medication and some ongoing treatment needs, to be administered here at home. This is what we do to help alleviate the financial and emotional burden for cancer patients."

The boss of the ANZ Bank in Apia, Sucharu Tandon also told this newspaper that their ongoing support going back a decade is to eliminate the deadly disease from the country.

"I shared with the crowd that over this period we have contributed to a mix of corporate donation, staff donation, and fundraising over SAT$50,000 and that has helped fund health care, create awareness for breast cancer as well as the pink car that the society used for their work," he said. "Over the course of this month, our staff will be wearing pink.

"That is just our way of elevating the discussion and getting on top of the minds of people walking into ANZ that if you feel something is not right, make sure you go see a doctor or the staff stationed downstairs at the Apia branch (at ANZ Samoa)."

Pinktober is the official breast cancer awareness month for the Samoa Cancer Society. It is the month where the Samoan community both local and overseas come together in solidarity with the color pink focusing on advocacy, education, awareness and fundraising activities of the society. It is a symbol of support and working together as the theme of PINKTOBER 2023 is "Together we can make a difference".