Cancer: Kebbi State Governor’s wife Calls for adequate healthcare facilities
The First Lady of Kebbi State, Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu has called on the private sector and the government to revamp the primary health care facilities to ensure adequate treatment of Cancer.
The First Lady made this statement while quoting data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that Nigeria has recorded over 10,000 new cancer cases and 7,000 deaths in the last 33 days into 2023. Shinkafi-Bagudu, noted that there was a need to bridge the cancer care gap in the country with increased awareness and technological advancements.
World Cancer Day is an international day marked yearly on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its early detection, prevention, and treatment.
READ ALSO: US FDA Approves Eli Lilly’s Rare Blood Cancer Drug
Speaking at a book launch, titled Footprints and partner reception by the First Ladies Against Cancer (FLAC) Initiative Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja, Shinkafi-Bagudu urged that harmful lifestyle practices that could lead to cancer should be avoided as much as possible.
“The book is a compilation of our activities and I hope that what you see there will stimulate you to reach out. We welcome formidable and sustainable partnerships from across all sectors. The book is a compilation of all our activities and advocacy. It is a celebration of our concept to bridge the cancer care gap in Nigeria and highlight as much as we could, the challenges that we face daily.
“The year 2023 has just started, barely 33 days, and Nigeria has already recorded over 10,000 new cancer cases. We’ve lost already 7,000 to this complex disease, according to the Globocan statistics by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The FLAC is a coalition of the spouses of current and former state governors working to address gaps in the cancer continuum of care; increasing awareness, facilitating access to screening and treatment services, and advocating for the implementation of policies on equitable access to quality cancer care services in Nigeria.
“For my sisters and myself, they are our daily experiences, things we go through in the form of text messages, and letters requesting support that are often accompanied by graphic videos and images. Our work is to work with the government agencies, such as the primary healthcare system to ensure that we provide better services for our people.
“So, we call on all private sectors and the government to revamp the primary health system.
“It is not right that where you live or where you are should continue to determine if you survive cancer despite the technological advancements that we have seen in the last decade. We must continue to address the global inequities by increasing cancer awareness, building sustainable partnerships and creating innovative ways that can help us reduce the cost of treatment” she added.
Speaking further, she highlighted some harmful lifestyle practices that could lead to cancer, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, obesity, poor diet, and alcohol abuse, e-cigarettes and shisha.
Also, the wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo, made a call for all to rise in the fight against cancer.
She said “Cancer kills, it kills people, men and women, young and old, in any nation of the world. Cancer can be found in different parts of the body, working differently in each place, and working differently in its manifestations in people.
“In some people, it’s a slow growth; in others, it is rapid. Cancer makes some people sick, cancer kills some people. Cancer killed my mother.
“There is a fight against cancer because cancer has set up a fight against humanity. Let us use this course to fight back” she added.
Healthwise/Wumi
