YE Ethiopia Cancer Association is the first residential and nongovernmental organization to intervene in the problem cancer in the country. The founders of the association are cancer survivors who experienced the brunt of the disease, and other individuals who have witnessed the magnitude of Cancer problems both in lack of awareness and treatment facilities in the country.

Vision

YE Ethiopia Cancer Association aspires to see a country where there are adequate Cancer treatment possibilities and a society where Cancer is not a major life threatening disease.

Objectives
  • Enhance the societies awareness about Cancer and its treatment possibilities
  • Provide psychosocial support to the needy ones

Organizational Structure

YE Ethiopia Cancer Association has the following organizational structure:

General Assembly: reviews the overall performance of the association, elects members of the board of directors and endorses the plan of the association.

Executive Board: gives policy directions, guides the executive office and approves the plan of operations and budgets of the association

Executive Office: Plans, coordinates and facilitates the implementation of the association’s activities.

Source of Support

YE Ethiopia Cancer Association has more than 1000 individual members who support it by contributing a membership fee and by providing ideas as to enhance performance. Members are from different walks of life such as teenage students, doctors, nurses, private and government employees, entrepreneurs, housewives and others.
It is also assisted by a few private and governmental organizations.

Major achievements

Awareness raising

YE Ethiopia Cancer Association has executed a numerous awareness and advocacy programs with support from AstraZeneca and Axios International. It has been reaching the public mainly through the following mediums of intervention:

  • Delivering awareness lessons at different private and governmental institutions
  • Producing and distributing different brochures and flyers that contain various information on cancer
  • Using the multimedia ( TV , Radio , Social media and magazines )Organizing a mass awareness campaign at the October International Breast Cancer Awareness Month and at the February World Cancer Day, in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Advocacy

A considerable number of advocacy sessions were organized by the association. Many of them focused at strengthening the commitment of stakeholders in addressing the Cancer burden.

Psycho Social support

In 2014 , YE Ethiopia Cancer Association has launched a project known as “Home of Compassion for poor women Cancer patients” with support from “Partners in the Horn of Africa”

The home is meant to alleviate the problem of poor women Cancer patients coming from different rural and semi rural parts of Ethiopia to the only comprehensive cancer treatment center of the country, Tikur Anbesa Hospital. These are patients who don’t get the chance to be admitted at the hospital and yet no means of accommodation in the capital city during treatment.

Thus the compassionate home project addresses the problem with the provision of decent accommodation, three meals day, sanitary facilities, pain relief treatments, psychological care and a transport service to and from the hospital.
The home has the capacity to serve 15 patients at a time and more than 400 poor women cancer patients has been served since its inception.

Note : YE Ethiopia Cancer Association strongly believes that Cancer is not something which could be fought alone. Hence upholding this conviction as guiding principle , it is affiliated to both local and international bodies such as Union for International Cancer Control ( UICC ) , The Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations ( CCRDA ) , The Consortium of Non Communicable Diseases ( CNCD ) and The Ethiopian National Cancer Committee ( NCC ) that is chaired by the First Lady of Ethiopia.

Major areas of future intervention

  • To strengthen the awareness and advocacy commitments in a very efficient and collaborative manner.
  • To build a large compassionate home that could serve more cancer patients.