Kenya's Benda Kithaka wins prestigious global award for cancer prevention

Health advocacy and communications specialist Benda Kithaka has won the prestigious 2024 Rachel Pearline Award in recognition of her global contribution to cancer prevention and research.

Kithaka is the Founder and Executive Director of KILELE Health, a Kenyan non-profit organisation that promotes cancer prevention and control using the power of storytelling to harness lived experiences as tools for advocacy.

"Congratulations to Benda Kithaka, this year's Rachel Pearline Award Winner! Kithaka is a champion of health advocacy, dedicated to cancer control and education using innovative and collaborative methods," the National Cancer Institute Centre for Global Health said in a statement on Wednesday.

An elated Kithaka said she was humbled to receive the global recognition.

"I dedicate it in honour of the women that we serve, and on behalf of the teams who are with us in the trenches advocating for cervical cancer elimination in Africa," she said.

She will deliver her keynote address at the virtual Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research 2024 on May 9, 2024.

KILELE Health is the Secretariat for The African Cervical Health Alliance, a network of civil society organizations working closely in 16 countries across Africa.

Under the KILELE Challenge, Kithaka takes a team of cancer survivors and caregivers to the summit of Mt Kenya every September to highlight cancer survivorship challenges and advocate for post-treatment empowerment of cancer survivors across sub-Saharan Africa.

Benda Kithaka takes a team of cancer survivors and caregivers to the summit of Mt Kenya every September to highlight cancer survivorship challenges and advocate for the post-treatment empowerment of cancer survivors across sub-Saharan Africa. (Photo: X/Benda Kithaka)

Kithaka is a trainer, facilitator, and public speaker on advocacy for women’s health with over 25 years of experience in communications, research, and marketing.

An alumnus of Strathmore Business School - Institute of Healthcare Management in Kenya, and University of Nairobi Political Science Major, she is a published author in peer-reviewed journals.

She also serves in an advocacy and advisory role in various global, regional, and local technical working groups, including the UICC Cancer Advocates Program, and the Africa Cancer Research and Control ECHO Steering Committee.

Benda Kithaka is honoured by former First Lady Margaret Kenyatta for her efforts towards cancer prevention.

Kithaka is the second Kenyan to win the global award after the CEO of the International Cancer Institute (ICI) in Eldoret, Frederick Chite Asirwa bagged the prize in 2020.

The Rachel Pearline Award honours Dr Rachel Pearline, a revered oncology fellow who received the award named in her memory in 2016 following her death at the age of 38, in November 2015, from gastric cancer.

While in medical school, she completed rotations in South Africa, Haiti, Romania, and rural China.

For her work, she received a prestigious Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship and Tulane University’s award for “Outstanding International Relationships.”

In honour of Dr Pearline, each year the Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research Steering Committee invites nominations for the Rachel Pearline Award.

As part of the symposium each year, the Institute recognises one outstanding professional who embodies virtue and eminence in cancer research, practice, and training in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC) setting.

The awardee is recognised at the Rachel Pearline Award Ceremony and gives a keynote address that highlights their contributions to cancer research and their future perspectives.