Les Dépêches de Brazzaville (LDB). How did the idea of creating Walk Run for the Cause come to your mind?
Rodrigue Dinga Mbomi (RDM). I have a daughter who has been diabetic since the age of ten. I asked myself what I can do at my level to move the map. I began to learn about this disease which is a real scourge. Today, there is an existing relationship between the number of strokes and diabetes and in Africa figures say that there are seven out of ten people who do not know if they are diabetic. It’s a real issue because if you don’t know if you’re sick, you’re not going to behave well. In 2011, the WHO estimated that if we do nothing in 2025, there will be 311 million diabetics in the world. The numbers are truly frightening. If we don’t all mobilize, tomorrow it will be our children who will pay the high price. This is why we launched this association with the mission of promoting health, fighting diabetes and promoting physical activity as a main prevention tool.
LDB How does your activity program look for this so-called diabetes month of November?
RDM. For this month of November, we wanted to reach the entire population: children, adults; active, inactive, men and women. We have sports, awareness and event activities. On the sporting front, we organized the inter-company football and Nzango tournament. There is also a sports walk planned for Sunday November 24 on the Corniche. We also organized an awareness campaign in schools and markets so that our children and parents are aware of diabetes. We also plan to organize an awareness campaign among companies and we invite them to come and participate in the workshop on “Diabetes and well-being” which will take place this Friday, November 22. Finally, we are organizing a charity evening to raise funds for the fight against diabetes on Wednesday, November 27.
LDB. What are the objectives of this evening?
RDM. When you are an association, the main subject is resources. We need the resources to finance the various projects. And as our ambition is to reduce diabetes, we have selected three main projects to finance between now and 2025. This involves being able to purchase a mobile medical office, that is to say a truck of a certain size with the capacity to work in the direction of population screening and medication. We are also going to finance a digital application, because we are convinced that the proximity of the telephone to users is an important element in spreading “the good word” regarding the diabetes awareness message, namely nutrition and physical activity. Finally, finance a sports and health center whose purpose will not be to provide partial treatment perhaps, but above all to be there to prevent the various risks. These are the structuring projects by association. If we want to take a step forward, we need to achieve them. The aim of the evening is to raise funds to finance these projects, but above all to stand up, businesses and civil societies, institutions, public authorities to say stop diabetes and enough is enough. Let’s move forward together on this subject. This event should allow us to better position ourselves in front of public authorities and stakeholders to be even more impactful in raising funds and the fight against diabetes.
LDB Who are the expected personalities?
R.D.M. We are waiting for the Ministry of Health as well as the WHO representative and the local structures which have already supported us. I’m thinking of the SNPC, fully committed to the fight against diabetes, NSIA… We’re going to have a great evening. The idea being to be very serious since we are tackling an important subject which is diabetes and, at the same time, we are going to have a local artistic platform. We called on artists to help us in this fight.
LDB What are the prospects for your association?
R.D.M. We are going to end the month of November with a lot of energy left on these different projects. Before December, we will take stock and at the same time prepare our 2025-2028 strategic plan. We already have 5e edition of the Traversée du Mayombe which will take place from June 7 to 13. It is an important activity because in terms of the impact on the population, it is an activity that takes place in six departments. And in each department we pass through, we raise awareness among the populations and invite them to get tested. It is a major activity in 2025 in terms of physical activity. We are trying to bring to fruition the projects that we will seek to finance this year.
