In a bid to complement government’s commitment towards fighting stroke conditions in the country, the First Capital Bank (FCB) has donated K3.5 million to Stroke Support Organization Malawi (SSO-Malawi)
Speaking at a Cheque Presentation on Friday October 21st at the Blantyre offices, Twikale Chirwa who is FCB’s Head of Marketing, said the donation is in line with the bank’s corporate social responsibility guidelines.
He explained that citizens can positively contribute much towards economic development of a nation if they are in good condition health wise, hence their involvement in health issues, particularly the donation.
“First Capital Bank is duty bound to complement government efforts to uplift livelihoods of Malawians. Our corporate social responsibility focus is education health and environment and this is a manifestation of us supporting the health sector in Malawi.
“Stroke Support Organization Malawi is doing a great job in terms of reducing the burden that stroke brings to families in Malawi, as such we felt compelled to contribute to this good course,” Chirwa explained.
In his remarks by Dr. George Chimatiro who is the Executive Secretary for SSO-Malawi, thanked the leadership of First capital Bank for coming in to support the organisation with that huge amount of money.
Dr Chimatiro indicated that this K3.5 million will help the organisation to buy their key requirement which is good equipment, PA system, that will help them effectively work with the general public.
He then reported that stroke continue to be a killer and significant cause of disabilities even among the young ones and says it is disrupting families, the corporate and the national economies as billions of dollars are annually spent in managing effect of stroke
Sadly, the Executive Secretary indicated that stroke is seen to be exponentially rising in Malawi and this region of Africa and he added that corporate and public information and education is key strategy for SSO-Malawi.
“We worry about what happens tomorrow in terms of numbers of those who fall with stroke. That is why while we focus on stroke survivors, our huge mandate is prevention of stroke in the first place.
“The financial support by the First Capital Bank is both timely and significant. SSO-Malawi will use this money to buy PA system that will go a long way to support and ease its operations to the general public. In particular dissemination of stroke prevention messages,” said Dr Chimatiro.
He added that the organisation is still in need of computers, heavy duty scales and continuous supply of testers and has therefore called other organizations and individuals to emulate what the First Capital Bank has done, supporting SSO-Malawi.
Chimatiro further cited lack of awareness of stroke risk factors and signs, myths surrounding stroke, limitation in health seeking behavior: lack of regular medical checks and underdeveloped health care system as some of the contributing factors of the raising of stroke cases in the country.
SSO-Malawi is a registered organisation that conducts awareness about stroke though talks that include lived experiences by stroke survivors, measures blood pressure, determines blood sugar levels (diabetes check), determines cholesterol levels, just to mention a few.
Follow us on Twitter:
