16 October 2006
about my work - MAKNA

As you already know, I'm doing an AIESEC Development Traineeship at the non-profit organization MAKNA; the National Cancer Council in Malaysia, with its Headquarter in Kuala Lumpur. International trainees have been at Makna since 2 years, but there's always only one international trainee, because besides the MAKNA staff, there are a lot of students who do a practical in MAKNA as well.

MAKNA is one of the biggest Cancer Organizations in Malaysia . Founded in 1996, the charity is very young. It focuses on the poor people who have cancer. You might know that the awareness of cancer and the knowledge about this disease does differ in the country and especially in the rural areas the knowledge is very very poor. In fact, it is now the second leading cause of death in Malaysia . An estimated 40,000 new cancer cases are registered yearly and it is expected to be the first cause of death in 2010!

Presentation and Talk about Breast Cancer during one exhibition

MAKNA stall at one charity event: Running Day in Banting (2 Hours from KL)

Accordingly, a lot of poor people can not afford cancer treatments or they even do not have enough money to pay for the public transport to go to hospitals (and especially in rural area hospitals are very far away and it can take you on day to go there…), Makna is raising funds with a lot of different activities like Charity events and a several donation programs and projects. Cancer patients can apply for the bursary program. People with cancer, will be treated in one of the national hospitals, Makna has a co-operation with and will receive a monthly fund for maximum one year. The amount is very limited and cannot cover the cost of even one chemotherapy treatment at all. But there wont be any cancer patient in need who will be refused.

Besides that, very important is to educate the people about cancer. Therefore Makna runs a lot of activities like Exhibitions, Cancer Talks and Charity events. In average, there is at least one MAKNA event somewhere in Malaysia every day!

Cancer Talk and Exhibition: rising the awareness of cancer in one of the national universities in KL and recruitment of student volunteers

MAKNA staff and volunteers before cancer presentation in lecture hall

posted by Kuala Lyon Pur at 10:36 AM

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