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Supporting the cause of World Cancer Day

Capgemini
February 4, 2020

February 4 is World Cancer Day, a day “to unite under one voice to face one of our greatest challenges in history.” I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that every one of us has been affected by this terrible disease in some way. My wife, for example, is a breast cancer survivor.

I became involved in the Abramson Cancer Center Leadership Council, a group of leadership donors, volunteers, and advocates, who support the mission of the Abramson Cancer Center through philanthropic gifts, fundraising events, and community outreach. This was my way to support the people who suffer from cancer.

We can all contribute to this cause in our own way no matter how small it is. I’m proud to share some of the ways that Capgemini is contributing its expertise and its people to this vital fight.

  • Our GSS Finance COE CSR team, led by Nilesh Bhosale, from Pune, India, organized a fundraising program for the treatment of Aryan Kasar, a 7-year-old child diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. We launched the “Food for Cause” campaign to raise funds by selling homemade salad and biryani and serving it to the employees at the center. All proceeds were donated towards Aryan’s treatment.
  • Our Poland team took Movember 2019, to another level. A movement popularized on social media as the month for men to grow out their mustache throughout November, has an underlying cause: it aims to raise awareness about men’s health. Capgemini Poland kicked off the “Movember and More” campaign, which targeted women and men to raise awareness about cancer prevention, focusing on self-examination and regular medical check-ups. Leaflets with information on self-examination were distributed to all employees and educational webinars were held.

Capgemini Poland also announced a contest challenging employees to share a photo with their mustache and add a caption on the importance of self-examination. This idea became an instant hit among employees.

  • When technology is applied to the right cause, it can be used to treat real-world problems. The Capgemini Invent team worked on breast cancer and prostate cancer solutions to support ongoing treatment and combat side effects. Capgemini analyzed information written in patients’ MRI-reports to assess the quality of its medical record-keeping processes.
    Capgemini implemented IBM Watson Explorer tools to classify and quantify findings on patients in different stages of cancer, by paying attention to and extracting details written by radiologists in MRI-reports. This is how we’re using advanced cognitive technology decode information in medical journals.

We will continue to support the goals of World Cancer Day, as a company and as individuals. We must work together to make cancer treatable, accurately diagnosable at earlier stages, and with endurable therapies driven by innovative technologies and scientific approaches.