This news package made me a
little emotional because the topic is one that is close to my heart.
Doing the package on the expensive
breast cancer treatment was something I did not even plan to do, basically the
report came to me while playing around online. I did not even know that
organizations like Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors without borders
existed. But now that I do I will be visiting their sites regularly to keep up with their work.
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| http://www.tac.org.za/sites/all/themes/sky/css/images/fresh/tac-logo.jpg |
A part of me does wish that
mainstream media could find the topic of expensive cancer treatment newsworthy
and follow up on whether Herceptin/trastuzumab will be
made cheaper.
I feel strongly about this because
my grandmother died from breast cancer which had ended up being bone cancer
like in the case of Tobeka Daki who is mentioned in the report found on the TAC
website under the topic: Activists demand Roche drops cost of vital
breast cancer medicine. My granny was part of the public sector so
she probably never even heard about the treatment.
Doing the package was informative
and difficult at the same time. I learned a lot about different non-profit
organizations that try to make a difference in all our lives by speaking out.
It is inspiring to learn about campaigns like the Fix the Patent Laws campaign which
has members that go out of their way to bring awareness to issues like this
one.
The assignment has taught me a
lot and I am now informed about some of the issues that will not necessarily be
covered in the seven o’clock news bulletins. I am grateful for non-profit
organizations like Treatment Action Campaign which is where I first saw the
story.
I did not face much difficulties
doing research on this topic because it is something I am very interested in
and will still be interested in years from now. Most people are also interested
in the topic which means a change will eventually take place.
