By Chidi Nkwopara

OWERRI — A call has gone to the Federal Government to establish cancer screening centres in the six geo-political zones of the country.

The National President, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr. Valarie Obot, made the appeal at a conference in Owerri, Imo State capital, last weekend.
The conference provided a platform for female medical practitioners to brainstorm on issues bordering on the girl child, harmful widowhood practices and human rights.

Dr. Obot regretted the increasing mortality rate of women, arising from breast and cervical cancers and appealed to the government to include the human papilo virus vaccine, as part of immunisation given to the girl child, to prevent breast and cervical cancers.

“I, therefore, request that the government formulate girl- friendly policies, provide girls required information and services, empower girls with skills for self- sufficiency, grant girls financial access to help their education, provide adequate safety for  girls in the school,” Dr. Obot pleaded.

Speaking on the theme, ‘The Girl-child: Strategies for a Fulfilled Life Time,’ a consultant gynaecologist with the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Dr. Uchenna Egelonu, called on Nigerians to avoid the seeming preference for male child.