There are predictions by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that, cancer rates will soar by 70 per cent in next 20 years. Yet, most Nigerians are neither aware of what cancer is, risk factors nor figures relating to cancer incidence.
According to the IARC report, the number of people across the....
world diagnosed with cancer is to hit 25 million a year and less developed countries will see an increase in cancer incidence – the number of new cases per year – of 44 per cent in the next decade, whereas in richer countries, incidence rates will only increase by 20 per cent.
Speaking with Daily Times, Coordinator, Breast Without Spot (BWS), a non- governmental organisation on cancer, Ms Funmilola James said, the knowledge of what cancer is is not just lacking among the women folks in Nigeria but "among people generally, both male and female don't even know so much not to talk of the rising cases of cancer in the developing nations because there is no avenue for people to know.
"If you want to go on air on radio to disseminate information on cancer, they will ask for money, same with the television stations and if you go to the government that you want to do a road walk to create awareness on cancer, they will tell you that you have to pay the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the police and this is an NGO, trying to create an awareness for free."
James said, "we are ready to talk when we have the opportunity and we do this for free. We've been invited by churches to talk on cancer and then we took advantage of that to create awareness to the congregation but generally, there are few avenue to create awareness among Nigerians on issues relating to cancer."
With an estimated population of 160 million, there is yet no commensurate increase in the facilities needed for treatment in Nigeria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommends one radiotherapy unit for every one million population; this translates to Nigeria needing not less than 160 units. Sadly, Nigeria is ill-equipped to cope with the “alarming pace” of cancer.
"Nigeria currently has about 12 centres and barely 4 of them are working," according to a Professor of Radiology at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, (UNTH) Enugu, and founder, BWS, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye.
Meanwhile, up to half of all cancer risks by eating a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and maintaining a healthy weight with a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18.5 and 25, and be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.
Data from 11 Federal tertiary hospitals by the National System of Cancer Registries showed, 7,000 new documented cases of cancer, corresponding with the average estimated 100,000 new cases of cancer reported in Nigeria every year.
It also showed, 60 per cent of cancers occur in women and 39.8 per cent in men. Breast cancer accounts for 40 per cent of women cancers, followed by cervical cancer with 17.9 per cent while, lymphomas and ovarian cancer are next.
Relating her recent experience at South Africa, Okoye said, "We spent about two weeks in South Africa in November and we saw a lot of political will from the government including the first lady in South Africa. They've done a lot, they've brought out a lot of money to vaccinate even 9 year old with the HPV vaccination.
"The political will should be there. We met the first lady of Zambia, she's so committed for the three days we had the World Cancer Leaders Summit, she was there from morning to evening, she showed so much commitment that international communities that have funding to assist low and middle income countries have gone into Zambia and established a lot of infrastructure in order for them to cope with cancer burden in that country."
Okoye however called on President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan to show more commitment in addressing issues on cancer in the country.
"I wish the first lady could adopt cancer issue as her pet project. I wish the president's attention can be called to this issue by the media so that he can readdress the world cancer declaration and see how we can sustainably work as a country with all hands on deck to achieve those targets. Nigeria has the capacity and the funding to do that.
"I wish we could get the ears of the president and the first lady on this matter because I know once the world sees the commitment from the leaders, they are going to come in to give more assistance, even the training needed by healthcare providers but they need to see the commitment from the government before they can come in to assist," Okoye said.
-Dailytimes
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