Aggeneys, 17 August 2018: For a third year in succession, Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) is partnering with PinkDrive and MBTM to sponsor the Pink Drive Outreach Programme in the Khai-Ma Municipal area – in partnership with the National Department of Health, National Department of Social Development, South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), the Northern Cape provincial government, civil society and other health, social practitioners including NFM Radio station who is providing media coverage for this outreach.
This year’s outreach programme will run from 20 to 24 August 2018, across Khai-Ma –
The outreach programme will include mammograms, clinical breast examinations, pap smears, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, HIV-AIDS testing, BMI measurement, and non-communicable disease testing - as well as health education talks covering cancer, HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, social care and lifestyle. A number of schools will also receive Dignity Packs for female learners.
All these services are available at no cost and under one roof – in the various locations and venues listed above - to all people who would like to take advantage of them Last year, the programme reached several hundred community members across the communities of Aggeneys, Pella, Onseepkans and Pofadder who, since they do not have medical aid, would not normally have access to life-saving early breast/prostate/testicular cancer detection and pap-smears. It is estimated that more than 100 000 South Africans are diagnosed with cancer every year – the top five are breast, cervical, colorectal and prostate cancer, as well as Kaposi sarcoma. Making such testing available to all South Africans can play a major role in saving lives.VZI is committed to the development, wellbeing and health of all the communities in the areas in which it operates. This initiative is just one way in which VZI hopes to give back and improve the lives of everyone around its operations. In future, VZI hopes to partner with other corporates in the region, which will allow us to make a huge difference to community health in the Northern Cape.
Noelene Kotschan, CEO and founder of PinkDrive says that they are grateful for the opportunity Vedanta is affording PinkDrive - “PinkDrive would like to commend Vedanta for recognizing the importance of keeping their communities healthy and for using PinkDrive to offer the much needed cancer screening services.”
Over time, VZI and PinkDrive expect this initiative to make a real difference to the health of all our communities – and especially to the youth of Khai Ma.
Christo Witbooi
Vedanta Zinc International
Telephone: +27 (0)79 949 4839
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Operations include:
Mining and milling at the Lisheen Mine in Ireland was concluded in December 2015 after 17 years of operation and the mine is currently in an active closure mode.
VZI’s vision is to create an integrated world-class regional zinc complex comprising the BMM (including Gamsberg) and the Skorpion Zinc mining and refining operations.
To date, Vedanta Resources has invested over $4 billion in Africa, over $1.7 billion in Southern Africa, and contributed over R100 million in CSR projects in South Africa and Namibia over the last 5 years.
About PinkDrive and MBTM to read:
PinkDrive, a non-profit company, powers South Africa’s mobile women’s health mammography and
gynaecology units, in collaboration with More Balls Than Most® (MBTM) are dedicated to promoting
awareness about the importance of early detection of prostate and testicular cancer. For more information,
visit www.pinkdrive.co.za and www.mbtm.co.za