Waging war against cancer

At the recently concluded conference of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer, held in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, President Jakaya Kikwete called for urgent action to combat. He promised to use his position as the chairman of the African Union to call on the leaders of the continent to take the high incidence of cancer more seriously. We cannot agree more with him.

We are concerned that cancer has become such a common disease in Nigeria that more attention needs to be paid to adequate education and a campaign to open the eyes of the populace to the need to be more proactive in combating it.

In Nigeria, according to statistics, breast and cervical cancers are the most common among women while prostate cancer is more common among men. It is disheartening that except for a rash of nongovernmental organizations that have taken it upon themselves to mount awareness campaigns, not much is being done by government agencies and the ministries of health to complement these moves.

This is not to say that no measures have been embarked on by these agencies, but we must go beyond the rhetoric that seems to dominate some of these attempts. The time toact is now because many of our citizens are still ignorant about this disease and in many cases of cancer, early detection is the key to any hope of successful treatment. The various causes of the disease are also due to lifestyle factors and poor health habits.

Without knowledge and information on a wide scale to assist in early detection, there is almost no chance of fighting cancer. In fact, the level of ignorance at times is so abysmal that it beggars belief.

Some people today still think cancer is caused by ‘‘the devil'' and would therefore prefer to go to so called spiritual homes or traditional healers to seek a cure. There is an urgent need to have a coordinated approach against all forms of cancer in the country. In August,Turai Yar'Adua, the president's wife launched an appeal fund for the building of what was called an International Cancer Centre in Abuja with much fanfare. At the launch, millions were raised. Now, several months down the road the parcel of land where the centre is to be sighted is still fallow, as no sign of development has taken place.

Mr. Kikwete could have been talking about Nigeria when he told delegates, "Cancer services in Africa are grossly inadequate while statistics are really frightening in relation to the frequency, late stage of presentation and the number of deaths attributed to cancer. Cancer is more than an ordinary disease. Indeed it is many diseases. It is one of the maincauses of death worldwide.

I am told that globally cancer causes more deaths than HIV, TB and Malaria combined." For Nigerians who have been diagnosed with cancer the challenge of finding care is a daunting one characterised by a lack of equipment, drugs and trained personnel. Patients have to travel from one end of the country to the other for chemotherapy and other forms of treatment, which in most cases are expensive and out of their reach.

We are calling on government agencies, c o r p o r a t i o n s a n d n o n -governmental organisationsto see this not as a lone fight to be fought individually.

The best way to begin to tackle the problem of treatment is to make the basic instruments for early detection available in our hospitals nationwide to provide an alternative for those who truly feel they have no other option but to appeal to traditional healers and spiritual deities.

SOURCE