Today, February 4, is World Cancer Day. It is a day set aside by the United Nations and World Health Organisation to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The Day is part of the Big War against the global cancer epidemic.

File Photo: Breast examination

Theme for World Cancer Day 2015 is “Not Beyond Us,” which takes a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist and that they are within reach.

Cancer is the world’s No. 1 killer disease. One out of every three persons will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. The worldwide burden of cancer is set to double again by 2020 and nearly triple by 2030. It is projected that by 2030, one in every two persons will be diagnosed of cancer in their lifetime.

The story of cancer burden in Nigeria is a sad one. At least 70 percent of cancer deaths take place in developing nations like Nigeria. According to the WHO, over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and about 80,000 die from the disease; this comes to 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour, dying from cancer. The Nigerian cancer death ratio of 4 in 5 is one of the worst in the whole world.

It is documented that cervical cancer which is virtually 100 per cent preventable kills one Nigerian woman every hour. Breast cancer now kills 40 Nigerians daily (up from 30 daily in 2008). Prostate cancer kills 26 Nigerian men daily (up from 14 daily in 2008). These three common cancers alone, kill 90 Nigerians daily. This alarming death rate is mainly due to poor infrastructure to deal with the problem.

One of the challenges of cancer care and mangement in Nigeria is the lack of Mobile Cancer Centres, MCCs. Most Nigerians have no access to basic cancer screening. Likewise, Nigeria has no single Comprehensive Cancer Centre, CCC; therefore, most Nigerians have no access to optimal cancer treatment. A Comprehensive Cancer Centre costs about $63 million, while a Mobile Cancer Centre costs about $600,000. Radiotherapy which is one of the essential equipment needed to manage cases of cancer is unavailable in most tertiary hospitals and only four public hospitals and one private hospital have such facilities in Nigeria. At the moment some of these are not functional.

Consequently, Nigerians spend $200 million annually on treatment abroad. Incidentally, $200 million is the approximate amount needed to establish three Comprehensive Cancer Centres or to acquire 300 Mobile Cancer Centres. Unfortunately, the outcome for Nigerians who embark on cancer-related medical tourism is often poor, because of late detection.

According to the WHO, one- third of all cancers can be prevented; another one- third can be effectively cured with early diagnosis; whilst palliative care can improve the quality of life of the last third.

Cervical cancer in particular, underscores the fact that cancer is preventable, and epitomises the cost-effectiveness of investing in preventive health care. It is the easiest of all cancers to prevent. Cervical screening is the best cancer screening test in the history of medicine and the most cost effective of all medical screening tests. The screening is painless and takes only about five minutes. Pre-cancer changes are easy to treat by an outpatient procedure lasting 15 minutes. Consequently, cervical cancer is now a disappearing disease in the western world, while it remains the number one cancer killer of African women.

Unfortunately, in Nigeria, most women are not aware of the need for cervical cancer screening; most have never had cervical cancer screening in their lifetime. Consequently, cervical cancer kills one woman every hour in Nigeria. The rural Nigerian woman is worse off, because of the near total absence of facilities for screening.

To combat this cancer menace, the mass medical mission, a non-governmental initiative, pioneered community-based mass cervical cancer screening campaign in Nigeria. This initiative, renamed the National Cancer Prevention Programme, NCPP, has enabled over 100,000 Nigerians to be directly screened and treated and through the awareness created, the NCPP is helping to protect millions of Nigerians from cancer.

This sacrificial effort significantly contributed to a 15 percent reduction of cervical cancer deaths in Nigeria, from 26 women dying daily to 22 daily, between 2008 and 2012 . This improvement is significant given the fact that the WHO had projected a 25 percent increase in cervical cancer deaths within 10 years, in the absence of widespread intervention. The improvement in cervical cancer survivorship in Nigeria is proof positive that we can win the Big War if we scale up the effort.

The champion of the Big War Against Cancer is the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, CECP-Nigeria, a private-sector led tripartite (private, social and public sectors) collaboration, aimed at mobilising Nigerians to unite in tackling major national problems.

This campaign has been on for about two years but is yet to receive enough support to acquire the first Mobile Cancer Centre. This is a clarion call for all individuals and organisations to enlist as soldiers in the Big War against Cancer, by giving their time, talent and treasure to the cause. To enlist, contact the CECP through [email protected] or calling 08095553555.

The message of today is that if we join hands, we can win the Big War against cancer.