Shina Abubakar Osogbo

In a move to stem the rise of cervical cancer in Nigeria, Fountain and Cambridge Universities have commenced free screening for over 600 women in Osun State.

The collaboration between the two Universities also include capacity building for medical personnel in early detection training from selected medical facilities in the state.

The screening exercise is scheduled to take place from September 5 to 8th in four locations, including Fountain University Health Centre, Iremide Medical Centre Annex, Salako/Aatiba, FOMWAN Secretariat, Ogo-Oluwa and NASFAT Prayer Ground all in Osogbo.

Speaking at the commencement of the screening, the Vice-Chancellor, Fountain University, Professor Ramota Karim disclosed that about 600 women will benefit from the exercise.

She said “The grants for the research on cervical cancer are in three phases which was won by Professor Nusrah Afolabi-Balogun of Clinical Bio-Chemistry and her Cambridge University counterpart, Dr Sarah Pensa.

“The grants worth several thousands of pounds, include the delivery of medical research equipment worth N150m last year and this is the second phase of it. Over 600 women at different locations has been selected across the state both rural and urban areas including the local government.”

Professor Afolabi-Balogun disclosed that the screening exercise will include, VIA Testing, Pap Smear Test, HPV Screening – qPCR Genotyping, LAMP Assay and Counselling & Education.

“Cervical cancer should not be killing our women because it has cure. This is the reason we recommend that women should always go screening to detect causative agent with a view to curing it before it becomes a cancer. The screening exercise can be done by a woman by herself, hence, do not need to expose their body to strangers if they are not comfortable”, she said.

Dr Sarah Pensa also warned that if cervical cancer is detected late it becomes deadly and has no cure, hence, the need for early diagnosis.