The First Lady Jeannette Kagame and her Gabonese counterpart Sylvia Bongo Ondimba on Wednesday visited Institut de Cancérologie of Libreville (ICL) and Maison d’Alice.

The visit took place on the sidelines of the 8th Extraordinary Session of the Heads of State of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in Libreville, Gabon.

During the visit, Mrs. Kagame was introduced to the latest technology that ICL is equipped with, according to a statement from the First Lady’s office.

The Institute offers a variety of services, which include medical oncology, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, and a laboratory of tumor biology and anatomy pathology.

The Institute offers treatments adapted to all patients. All the mentioned services are supported by a Government policy in the fight against cancer, which put forward health insurance to cancer patients at a national scale.

The First Lady of Gabon subsequently invited her counterpart Mrs. Kagame to visit the house of life; La Maison d'Alice, named in honor of the first Gabonese woman cured of cancer.

A flagship project of the Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Foundation, the house welcomes cancer patients from remote areas across the country, who do not have convenient accommodation options or reliable means of transport to follow up with their long-term treatment.

In addition to accommodation, La Maison d'Alice also offers social and psychological support to patients to help them brave through the treatment and its side effects.

In the spirit of the sensitisation and testing campaigns held during October’s Pink Campaign, Mrs. Kagame was able to meet the staff and some of the residents of the two establishments. Both the Institute and La Maison d’Alice demonstrate the commitment of the First Lady of Gabon, in the fight against cancer types that affect women.