By Sola Ogundipe

The Niger State First Lady Dr Amina Abubakar Bello has called for the institutinalisation of cancer screening into the country’s National health system at the Primary Health Care level, to promote early detection and better outcomes of cancer care.

Bello, who is also the Chairperson of The First Ladies against Cancer, FLAC, and Founder/CEO Raise Foundation, decried the high cost of cancer treatment and lack of effective support for cancer survivors.

Speaking recently during a virtual chat organised by FLAC and Roche on “Partnerships & Wide-based Screening Towards The Reduction of Nigeria’s Cancer Burden,” she said early detection and treatment significantly decreases cancer mortality rates.

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“Having a National screening programme for cervical cancer will key into the recently launched WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy, which involves screening and treatment of cervical cancer as well as the prevention with HPV vaccination.

“The HPV vaccines are only available to those who can afford it, which brings the need to incorporate the vaccine into the National vaccination programme, FLAC is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health, vaccine manufacturers and other partners to make the vaccines more accessible to young girls and women across the country.”

She said the partnership with Roche aims to serve this purpose and extends back to 2016. 

“Roche has specifically paved the way to provide breast cancer treatment to women in some States across Nigeria as we work together in the joint creation of awareness amongst women about the importance of vaccination, screening and treatment.

We therefore call on government and other stakeholders to join us in meeting the objective of 90 percent of girls to be vaccinated against HPV by 2030, 70 percent of women screened for HPV by age  35 and, again at 45, and lastly that 90 percent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer are able to access treatment.

“If it is institutionalised as one of the requisite tests, then it becomes a compulsory exercise for women. It is therefore imperative that stakeholders upscale efforts to advocate for and create awareness of cancer screening available to Nigerian women,” she argued. She mentioned, among others,  low perception of cancer risk, and physician gender preferences as factors contributing to resistance to cancer screening.

“To assist in breaking down these barriers, we need to ensure primary prevention through lifestyle modification and secondary prevention through cancer screening.

“For both breast and cervical cancers, the screening tests are simple and relatively inexpensive and can easily be provided at PHCs.  The gold standard test for cervical cancer  screening is testing for the Human papilloma Virus (HPV) which is currently  inaccessible for majority of women in the country. And so there is need for the government to allocate funds specifically in order to make it available to women.

The screening programme has to be comprehensive with provision made to assist the women navigate the healthcare system following any positive results from the screening exercise including the facilitation of referrals for further assessment and treatment. “This is because cancer treatments are very expensive and over 75 percent of Nigerians pay for health care out of pocket. This is a huge burden on the resource of the average Nigerian.

Prevention and early detection of cancer not only improves chances of survival and reduces morbidity, it also reduces the financial burden associated with the cost of treatment.

“Primary health care centres/clinics are the closest access to healthcare for people and institutionalising screening of cancers at that level increases early detection thereby reducing the incidence of cancer. It also helps to remove both the economic and cultural barriers that may exist.

Vanguard News Nigeria