•As NSIA-LUTH Centre holds awareness walk

By Chioma Obinna

On this year’s World Cancer Day, experts at the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, NSIA-LUTH, Cancer Centre, have harped on early detection of cancer as key in the management and survival of the dreaded disease.

The experts who said people die from cancer due to late presentation urged Nigerians exhibiting signs of cancer to get treatment as soon as possible and to jettison the belief that cancer is always fatal.

They noted that early detection was essential to lowering the death rate. from cancer and the enormous financial burden of treating the illness.

The cancer experts spoke during an awareness walk they organised to commemorate the 2024 World Cancer Day, with the theme: “Close the Care Gap: Everyone Deserves Access to Cancer Care.”

The theme highlighted inequalities in cancer care and the action needed to be taken to tackle the deadly disease.

In her submission, the Director of the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, Dr. Lilian Ekpo, insisted that early detection was vital as it helps to save lives.

She noted the rise in the incidence of cancer worldwide, stating that the incidence was worse in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria.

“People need to know about cancer, know the early signs, present early, and do screening so that we can save lives. The challenge we have is that patients present late. They present late because, first, they are not aware of the signs and symptoms.

” The bleeding from the vagina, weight loss, and all the other symptoms associated with cancer are ignored, and people don’t present on time.

“Once you present late, the likelihood that the oncologists and the team of cancer care specialists will be able to achieve a cure is lower. So that is the challenge in Nigeria.

“The top four cancers we are dealing with are breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer.”

She said the mortality rate was high in Nigeria, and there is a likelihood that an individual may die from the disease because of the quality of health care that individual receives.

Ekpo said the greatest misconception in Nigeria is the belief that cancer is a death sentence. “The perception of cancer in Nigeria, I think is slowly increasing and I emphasized the word slowly and that’s because a lot of people out there still see cancer as a death sentence.

“And that’s one of the core things that we’re trying to do at the centre through our constant awareness on different platforms, including the media and social media handles.

“We are trying to educate the public that cancer is not a death sentence, knowing that options are available.”

She traced the rising incidence of cancer to lifestyle changes, adding that health trends were moving away from communicable diseases to a surge in noncommunicable diseases amid an acute manpower shortage in the health sector.

Ekpo said prostate, breast, prostate, cervical, and colon cancers are the top four cancers diagnosed in Nigeria.

“In this centre, we also see a lot of head and neck cancers. I must confess that we do have very good outcomes in treating head and neck cancers.

“Currently, NLCC has deployed state-of-the-art treatments and equipment in the management of cancer. We have the kind of technologies that you will see in cancer centres in developed countries and the benefits of having those technologies in place and having clinicians, medical physicists, and radiotherapists who are skilled in the deployment of these technologies.”

On challenges faced by cancer patients in Nigeria, she said the greatest challenge patients experience is finance.

“Healthcare everywhere in the world is expensive. In developed countries where you have a very strong healthcare insurance system, significant care is given to any service that is rendered to the patient. In Nigeria, the government is trying, especially with cancer care, as they’re making some significant investments.”

“My advice to the public is to be informed and educated. A lot of people are waiting on a doctor, or an informed healthcare professional to tell them what to do about their health. You know your body, don’t ever ignore symptoms.”

On his part, Chief Clinical Director, NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre. Dr. Habeebu Muhammad said there was a need to close the gap among the number of personnel managing the disease to reduce the burden of cancer in Nigeria.

“We also need to put cancer treatment in insurance so that it will be available for low- and middle-income people,” he said.