PinkDrive's innovative campaign aims to screen 12,000 people and educate communities on cancer

Daily Maverick

2 days ago

In an effort to tackle late-stage cancer detection, a mobile screening drive run by the NGO PinkDrive, mining group Rio Tinto and the Department of Health is bringing key services to underresourced communities across four provinces.
A mobile cancer screening drive is bringing much-needed services to underresourced communities in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga. Spearheaded by the health sector NGO PinkDrive, the campaign aims to screen more than 12,000 individuals by the end of August and provide health education to many more.
The initiative, supported by mining group Rio Tinto and the National Department of Health, is driven by the need to address late-stage cancer detection.
'There aren't such [screening] services available in many of the areas… and access to where there's services is… just about nonexistent for the communities… That's why [PinkDrive] took the mobile approach some 20 years ago now. Our whole thing is to take the health service to the people who cannot afford it, and make it easily accessible,' explained Noelene Kotschan, CEO and founder of PinkDrive.
'In the communities, these people that we are seeing are the poorest of the poor. They don't have the disposable income to pay for taxis to take them to the hospital for a service… This is all done on the spot.'
As part of the campaign, PinkDrive is providing mammograms and pap smears for cervical cancer detection and HPV (Human papillomavirus) screening, as well as check-ups for prostate cancer, skin cancers, high blood pressure and glucose and cholesterol monitoring.
There are 18 medical professionals on the mobile screening team, including a gynaecologist, dermatologist and radiologist.
'Because we have highly skilled medical doctors, as well as trained nurses, we are in a position to immediately refer patients to the closest hospital or the clinic where they come from, so that they can access treatment as fast as possible. Our [memorandum of understanding] with the National Department of Health is to do the screening, and then the uptake of the patients for whom we created a pathway to care is the state's responsibility,' said Kotschan.
Community health education
PinkDrive's outreach efforts extend to providing health education in the communities to which they travel, ensuring individuals are better equipped to monitor their own health.
'According to our licence, we can only do 30 mammograms a day, because we are… fully licensed via the Health Professions Council [of South Africa], so you can imagine the need versus the number that we can do. However, we're very focused on educating as well,' Kotschan told Daily Maverick.
While the screening service prioritises mammograms for women over 40 years of age, the team's medical staff also show men and women of all ages how to perform clinical breast examinations on themselves.
Kotschan said: 'We've found that stats worldwide are showing breast cancer is no longer an older woman's disease. The younger girls are also [at risk]. Yesterday, we picked up a 20-year-old and a 33-year-old who have definitely got breast cancer… On those women, ultrasounds are done, biopsies are done.'
According to Statistics South Africa's report on cancer in South Africa (2008-19), released in 2023, cancer accounted for 9.7% of all deaths reported in the country in 2018, making it the fourth-leading cause of mortality.
Working with communities
Kotschan said the response to the cancer screening drive in communities had been 'amazing'.
'There's a lot of ground mobilisation that has been done… The districts and clinics where we go, their community health workers, I must commend them. They've done a phenomenal job,' she said.
Residents who took part in PinkDrive's screening efforts at Motherwell Clinic in the Eastern Cape said they were thankful for the opportunity to access health checks. Speaking anonymously, one woman said: 'Today, at Motherwell Clinic, they had such great services from the PinkDrive… I had a pap smear, a lung screening, skin cancer screening, and I got the best out of everything. I would have never had the opportunity if the PinkDrive wasn't a part of it.'
Mandisa Mabaso, head of government relations at Rio Tinto, said the company's partnership with PinkDrive was part of its broader social impact strategy, 'focused on balancing economic growth with environmental and social responsibility'.
'We understand that sustainable change requires collaboration, and together with experts and local authorities, we can address critical social needs for a healthier future,' Mabaso said. DM