By Gabriel Olawale

Old students of Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School (Landers ’88) Reunion Club over the weekend took to the streets of Lagos to create awareness about the causes and prevention of cancer.

File Photo: Breast examination

Speaking during the walk to commemorate the 5th Omolara Jolaoso Memorial Cancer, President of the Club, Mr. Soji Adekogbe said that universally, the majority of cancers are amenable to early detection.

“In 2018, there were more than 18 million new cases of cancer diagnosed, of which nearly five million cases of breast, cervical, colorectal, and oral cancers could have been detected sooner and treated more effectively.

“We aim to inspire and encourage action from individuals, the health community, and governments to increase public awareness and access to early detection, screening, and diagnosis.

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“We know that early detection, screening, and diagnosis can improve patient survival rates and quality of life as well as reduce the cost and complexity of cancer treatment.”

Adekogbe however called on government at all levels to declare a state of emergency on cancer by implementing the National Cancer Control Plan 2018-2022, invest in diagnostic capacities, implement measures to reduce stigma and improve public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer.

“Implement cost-effective population-based screenings and early detection programmes. Corporate organisations and philanthropists should also support the fight against cancer by choosing cancer programmes as their corporate social responsibilities and adopt cancer patients because we can win the fight against cancer if we all fight together.

Corroborating his view, Ojuolape Akinpelu urged Nigerians to take proactive steps to reduce their cancer risks, “the global theme is “I Am and I Will”, but Landers ’88 adopted a theme of “Create a future without  Cancer. The time to act is now.”

Akinpelu said that the reason for the walk was in honour of their class mate, “One of our class mates, Omolara Jolaoso died of breast cancer about five years ago so we consider it important to create awareness about the cancer scourge so that people can improve on healthy lifestyle.