Tumaini La Maisha Press Release
PRESS RELEASE
The Kilimarathon and TLM Giving to the Moshi Region through their Cancer treatment for Children at KCMC!!
The Kilimanjaro Marathon have again this year appointed Tumaini La Maisha Tanzania (TLM) as their official beneficiary to the Event.
TLM is a committed charity that aims to reach every child in Tanzania who develops cancer, and treat them with high quality cancer treatment free of charge with the hope for a continued and healthy life.
Through the various Fund Raising efforts by a number of runners and individual donations made when entering online, the 2022 Kilimarathon raised just under US $10 000 and this money was donated to The Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre [KCMC] in Moshi, to support the Children Cancer Ward.
KCMC is an important partner to the marathon due to its medical support at the event and the finish area each year and the support on route as the runners pass by the hospital on race day.
This year the Kilimarathon has pledged to not only have the voluntary donation element on the entry page that runners can contribute to, but the event will also donate 5% of every paid for entry received to TLM. Along with that, TLM will receive a number of free entries to distribute to their runners to raise funds and RUN FOR A REASON, RUN FOR FUNDS.
Over the last 10 years, Tumaini la Maisha has driven remarkable change including a 3-fold increase in survival (from 20-60%) and a 4 fold increase in numbers of children accessing services (from 200 to over 800 little patients). But with a population of over 60 million, more than 50% of whom are under the age of 18, Tanzania can expect to see between 3500-4000 new paediatric cancer cases each year. So there is much more still to be done.
For many children referral and travel to our hub at MNH in Dar es Salaam still takes several days or even weeks. Therefore, developing and improving the cancer services at regional centers is crucial. As part of our effort to reach every child, we have created the National Childhood Cancer Network (NCCN) which currently involves 11 hospitals across Tanzania. We hope to expand this over the coming years to more than 30 centres until no child in the country is more than a 4-hour journey from a participating site.
The Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi is one of their most active and successful partners. They treat over 100 children annually.
TLM provides the KCMC service with all chemotherapy and other medications and consumables required to treat their paediatric patients; access to central pathology review and rapid leukaemia diagnostics; Government health insurance cards to any childhood cancer patient in need; and transport for any child who needs referral to Dar es Salaam for sub-specialist treatment. All of these supports are offered entirely free of charge by Tumaini la Maisha.
Tumaini la Maisha is delighted to be the 2023 Kilimanjaro Marathon official charity.
We have decided that all proceeds raised through the marathon will be used to fund all of TLM’s activities and clinical supports at KCMC as we continue to grow this service with our wonderful partners.
We urge you to consider supporting TLM’s activities in order to strengthen the NCCN and pediatric cancer services in Tanzania most specifically in the Moshi, Kilimanjaro region.
Run for Good at the 2023 Kilimanjaro Marathon
