CEAFON seeks end to breast cancer deaths

Towards improving the quality of cancer care in Nigeria, stakeholders in the management of the disease have been urged to come together and address the gaps in breast cancer management in the country, particularly the problem of wrong diagnosis, poor treatment outcomes, and lack of access to drugs in order to reduce the number of deaths associated with the disease.

President of Cancer Education and Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CEAFON), Prof. Francis Durosinmi-Etti, who made the call in Lagos recently, said time has come for stakeholders to find solution to the high mortality rate associated with the disease in Nigeria, in addition to the problem of ignorance.

Statistics have shown that Nigeria has a huge burden of cancer with breast, cervical and prostate cancers being the biggest cancer killers. With more than 102,000 new cancer cases in Nigeria every year in which more than 70% of the patients die from the disease based on available records, the need for a comprehensive cancer care, especially breast cancer through screening, testing and treatment cannot be overemphasised as it would go a long way in reducing the burden.

Experts say cancer is killing more people in the developing world like Nigeria than HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria combined, while breast cancer has become one of the most common cancers and the principal cause of cancer deaths among women in Nigeria.

According to Durosinmi-Etti, “Cancer concerns us all. There is a lot to be done and we are making these efforts to stop the scourge. Stakeholders must come together to discuss how to win the battle against the disease.”

He revealed that cancer related deaths were on the increase largely because high level of ignorance among the people coupled with inadequate specialists and very few cancer centres in Nigeria offering quality care.

He stated that over the years, there has been an increasing number of breast cancer patients with several challenges arising from wrong diagnosis and treatment.
Stressing the need for a National Policy on the treatment of breast cancer in Nigeria,

Durosinmi-Etti said experts in the country who have studied the disease for many years should rise and discuss breast cancer prevention, government policy development diagnosis and treatment protocols among others.

He noted that breast cancer management in the country was faced with so many challenges including high death rate, poor funding, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of access to drugs, late presentation and lack of awareness.

According to him, breast cancer is one disease which had continued to change the course of many women’s lives in Nigeria once they learnt they have it .

Nobody wants to be told about breast cancer because of the implication. The diagnosis of breast cancer is not something that is easy for anybody whether as patient or caregiver, let alone the treatment”, he noted.

He emphasised the need for Nigeria to catch up with the rest of the world in cancer management in order to reduce the number of deaths, pointing out that elsewhere in the world, “We saw that the incidence was going up but more people are surviving it because they are getting timely treatment.”

Please this photo caption and the photo is for the second story on Infectious Disease Control Initiative. Thanks.

From left, Pastor Imeh Udo, Managing Director, Complete Advantage Ltd; Dr. Udoka Chira, Public Health Physician, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi; and Prince Vitus Udumukwu, during a press briefing on the forthcoming Global Infection Diseases Initiative Lecture held in Lagos…recently.