Prostate Cancer: Leah Foundation partners Stake Holders to screen Kwarans

A leading non-governmental organisation (NGO), based in Kwara State, Leah Foundation has set plans in motion to partner with the Stake holders to screen kwarans for prostate cancer as part of its activities to screen not less than twenty thousand men this year. They also plan to partner with the state government to screen civil servants.

 

READ ALSO:Expert calls for national prostate cancer screening programme

 

The Chief Executive Officer/Founder of the Foundation and immediate past First Lady of Kwara State, Deaconess Omolewa Ahmed made this known while speaking with journalists in Ilorin at the weekend during an enlightenment campaign in preparation for 2025 World Cancer Day.

Deaconess Ahmed, while emphasizing the need for early detection as a way in preventing the deadly cancer disease, encourage every man above the age of forty to consider adequate screening a matter of importance as the cheapest means to avoid the danger that comes with treatment and eventual death of victims.

Speaking on the activities of the Foundation which was birthed in 2012, the former Kwara First Lady, said that the initial focus was majorly centered on women and children to take of three categories of their needs; social welfare, health and education which led to the organisation working under an umbrella acronym of SHE before the need to squarely face the health unit of SHE arises.

 

 

Her words, “Because, my own little understanding is that when a woman is OK, it affects the children, it affects the husband, which in turn has a positive impact on the society and the nation at large. So all the programs we were doing were centered on the women and the children.

“So we were working on those three sub-departments, which we termed SHE (Social welfare, Health and Education). We had a SHE concept that we were working with, which, you know, SHE is also used for women.

“So we did a bit of work on social welfare, we had things that we also did in the health sector and we also did a bit also in education. We had education programs that we managed.

“And it was in the course of this assignment, particularly the health program, we had a program we called Clinic on Wheels in those days, where we were taking clinical services to the rural communities. We realized that the government had invested so much in primary health centers, but people were not assessing it due to ignorance.

“One of the things we did when we started was to try to take these things to where you have the concentration of women. Then we sensitized them about the facilities. We did basic screenings for them in terms of checking for BP, checking for diabetes, malaria parasites, you know, little, little things.

We gave eyeglasses, and to people who needed referral, we gave referrals to create the awareness in the people”.

Speaking on the journey to fighting cancer menace through the Foundation, Deaconess Ahmed said, “It’s in the course of this program also that this cancer thing started. You know, shortly before the swearing-in, I met somebody who told me, out of all the things we work on, please do something on cancer. I think she just lost somebody to cancer then. That was how the seed was actually planted.

“When we resumed office fully, I tried to make some inquiries, how do I go about it? And when they brought it, it was so huge, you know, cancer is so big, it’s so large. So I looked at it, I’m like, oh, this is an insurmountable mountain. Let me just leave myself within the social welfare, the little, little help I can render here and there.

Speaking further, “And it was like that until reality dawned on me when I lost three people that were extremely, extremely, extremely close to me. Two of them were to breast cancer, and the other one was cervical stroke, ovarian.

“With these incidents, I didn’t need anybody to tell me again, because I realized that these people that I lost were because of ignorance, because people don’t talk about it. And when there’s the issue of cancer, people tend to look, you know, it was seen as a myth. People see it like it’s diabolical, so nobody really wants to talk about it and there was a lot of stigmatization.

“The three people that I lost weren’t because they were not educated. It wasn’t because of finance, by the grace of God there were funds to take care of them, but unfortunately it was due to ignorance and late detection. So that was how I knew I didn’t need a soothsayer to know that God wanted me to do something about it. That’s why I said for me, it’s not a pet project. It’s actually a calling. It’s a ministry. Because the passion with which I go after it, even me myself, I don’t have a control over it.

While speaking on the progress made so far with sensitizing the people over the years, Mrs. Ahmed spoke on how broad cancer is and the need for more people to be involved by narrowing down or facing a particularly part being affected by the deadly disease.

“Like I said, cancer is very broad. You have cancer of the ears, of the nose, of the throat, liver, blood. So we had to narrow down. One person cannot do it all. We narrowed it down to the two commonest cancers that were killers. You know, the killers of women most, which is the cervical and the breast cancers. So that is the work we have been doing over the past 12 years.

“We have done quite a bit. We’ve gone to everywhere you can imagine in Kwara State. We’ve been to traditional rulers, public spaces, schools, catching children young, creating awareness on self-check, how to present yourself when you notice anything, what you need to do.

I want to say to the glory of God, we are not there yet. But we are not where we started. Because now we have people talk about it freely. To a large extent, I will say that in Kwara today, somebody, an illiterate on the street can tell you about Shayewo (check yourself).

“I’ve invested my entire life into it. I produced a musical album. And, you know, I’ve come to the basic of every person, children, youth, just bearing this message. We produced a 13-week series called Sayewo, which was on Kwara Television for two seasons, talking about why the need for constant checks and screening. Already, as I am now, I’m already working on season two of Shayewo.

“And I must say that since we have opened our center in GRA, every Thursday, even while we left office, we have been doing free screening for women, Mrs. Ahmed, concluded.

Corroborating the words of Mrs. Ahmed, the Chief Medical Director, Leah Medical Hospital, Dr. Gregory Oyinloye, spoke on the need for men to take checks and screening very seriously because the common cancer in men, which poses danger too is the prostate. He emphasize that, like other known cancer diseases, prostate usually hides without giving symptoms in the most early stages. He explained further that even men can be diagnosed with breast cancer too, reiterating the need for early detection to wade off avoidable danger.

 

 

His words, “But also over the years, we’ve noticed that there has been a rise in the number of men coming down with prostate diseases. And that’s one of the things that prompted this awareness that we are creating now.

“Back to the issue of men having breast cancer. Yes, absolutely, that’s correct. The fact that a man has a breast already opens up that avenue that the man can have a breast cancer. As you know, cancers just mean that the cells are growing abnormally. It can be in any organ. It can be in the breast, it can be in the abdomen, it can be on the skin, and it can be on the cervix.

Speaking further, Oyinloye said, “Talking particularly about the prostate. Why it’s unique is that only men have that organ called the prostate. And the prostate is found at the bottom of the bladder, basically guiding that route where urine comes out through.

So if there’s any illness or disease of the prostate, one of the things that it presents with is that there will be problems of urinating or difficulty in urinating. Hence, the Yorubas call it seto seto. And considering the fact that by the time these symptoms start, it means the disease is already getting into the advanced stages.

“Because at the early stage, it’s usually without symptoms at all and that’s why we’re focusing or emphasizing that screening is the best way. Because we want you to come and check to see if there’s anything wrong before your body tells you that there’s something wrong.

“That’s the best way because prostate cancer is actually treatable, curable completely. It’s one of the most curable cancers, if picked at an early stage, Oyinloye concluded.

Meanwhile, the Foundation will be organizing free cancer screening in the three senatorial districts of Kwara State to mark this year’s World Cancer Day.

According to Dr. Oyinloye, the Kwara Central will be holding at the open field of Kwara State Stadium, Ilorin, on Tuesday, 4th February and the team will be at the ODU Hall, Offa for that of Kwara South on Tuesday, 11th February while Tsaragi will be venue for the Kwara North on Thursday, 13th February.