The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams gave the opening remarks on Friday’s start of the two-day Cancer Conference. "This is a historic conference for St. Maarten, one of coming together for so many organizations and stakeholders who will be deliberating on matters regarding the fighting of cancer, successes and failures in combatting the disease. Over the last couple of weeks we have been engaged in many activities organized by many organizations with respect to creating awareness about cancer and the available treatments," commented the Prime Minister.
The conference is targeted at Decision Makers, Policy Makers, Health Care Providers, Patients, Family Members and the General Population and is aimed at providing the opportunity with information, to stimulate discussions and to propose a structure to better manage medical services targeting various forms of cancers.
"I always mention when the subject of cancer arises that my mother, who is ninety-one years old, is a breast cancer survivor. You may ask why I always mention this along with her age, it is because she is a survivor for approximately fifty years and the treatment she has received is also that old. If back then the treatment was successful how much more advanced are we today in terms of treatment. I have also lost my Husband approximately six years ago to cancer; after diagnosis it only took a couple of weeks before we lost him. Similarly someone who I consider one of my daughters was diagnosed with cancer some months ago and because of the proper treatment she is fighting it and fighting it well. So it is important that we realize that we are all affected by this disease and that we should extend the care which is provided to not only those going through their fight against cancer but to their friends and family as well," continued the PM.
The Cancer Conference is being organized by the Section General Public Health within the Collective Prevention Services under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor in collaboration with Cancer Awareness Partners in the Community. Prime Minister Wescot-Williams also moderated the Decision Making Session on Friday exploring various avenues as to how to develop a strong program fighting Cancer within the community.
"As a small country we have limited resources we need to set priorities with regards to providing the adequate treatment and care for the people of St. marten. I hope that we can get the support to develop a wider national program to continue to fight against this disease that has affected so many lives within our community," concluded the Prime Minister.