SPEECH BY H.E.

MARGARET KENYATTA DURING THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF

THE 9TH STOP CERVICAL, BREAST AND PROSTATE CANCER ION AFRICA
CONFERENCE AT KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTER ON 20TH
JULY, 2015
H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of the Republic of Kenya,
Fellow First Ladies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.
I am delighted to join you this morning during the official opening of the 9th Stop Cervical,
Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa conference.
Let me first express my gratitude to my fellow First Ladies, for the honour you have bestowed
upon me; electing me as the new Chairperson of the Forum of African First Ladies and
Spouses against Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer.
I look forward to working with all of you, for the next one year, to achieve our goals in fighting
these cancers across Africa.
This conference gives us the opportunity to pause and look back at what we have achieved in the
last 9 years, in order for us to chart the way forward.
So far, we have succeeded in raising awareness about cervical, breast and prostate cancers among
our African population.
Now, we must build on this success by increasing our efforts in expanding access to early
screening, prevention, treatment and palliative care services for those affected across our
continent.
This conference will help us maintain a steady progress towards this goal.
Indeed, looking through the conference agenda, you will be tackling relevant topics such as
screening, counselling and training of health workers.
Additionally, we have lined up speakers who will give expert views on advocacy, prevention,
policy and treatment.
This conference gives us a great opportunity to learn and network with fellow delegates and help
us realise the theme, Investing to Save Lives: The Role of Public-Private Sector Partnerships.
I urge all of us to keep this theme alive, as we have a role to play in fighting cervical, breast and
prostate cancer.

We must lobby our leaders, governments, private sector and non-government organisations to
take the necessary action so that we can help our people live healthy and productive lives.
There is also need for us to find ways in which our people will adopt healthy lifestyles
through physical exercise and proper diet as a way of combating this menace.
We need Africa to go back to her roots and start eating more traditional foodstuffs. We need
to stop consumption of highly processed foods especially among the youth.
We all know that local problems require local solutions which is why we are gathered here to
bring together our collective ideas in a quest to stop the rampant death of our people to
the scourge of cancer.
Once again, as chairperson of this forum, I look forward to working with you all. I want to assure
you of my commitment and support to fight cervical, breast and prostate cancer across Africa.
I wish you fruitful deliberations and a successful conference.
Thank you.