Cancer cases on the rise in Nigeria, experts worry
Dozie Chukwu is an architect and surveyor; a graduate of university of Lagos recollects his two-year journey of pain struggling to survive cancer.
“At a point, I got to realise that cancer is in you, it grows inside of you and you cannot just ignore it, if you hope it will just go away, it won’t. I have been diagnosed of Osteosarcoma, which is the cancer of the bone.”
“Cancer is a serious disease, you have to take it serious, “It dragged me through the darkest hour, it has been a long journey, but I will get there and stay in control and take the wheel all the way”, Dozie said.
My ordeal makes me understand pain. This is besides the drugs, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, the surgeries and the anxiety that you would die soon. “But cancer is not a death sentence” he recounts.
“The harsh dots on my skin, the breakdown of hair scarp, the gradual deterioration into a skeletal figure, and the disappearance of the real me, the agony and the pressure on the cells in my body that give me pains in my bone, it is hard experience for the cancer sufferer.”
But Dozie is among the lucky few that have survived cancer. He lives to share his experience.
Over 100,000 new cancer cases are reported every year in Nigeria. But lack of adequate cancer screening and cancer treatment centres, means many Nigerians suffering from the disease eventually die miserably in pain and agony.
The burden of cancer in Nigeria is heavy but it’s largely being ignored due to poor record keeping.
Breast and cervical cancer have the highest prevalence among Nigerian women while prostate cancer is the number one cancer in Nigerian men despite the fact that these cancers are largely preventable.
Aderemi Ajekigbe a Radiotherapist and Oncologist at the College of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), told BusinessDay that the burden of cancer in the country is on a rise, in way that it is becoming an epidemic.
“Women are at a higher risk of getting cancer, with more than 40 percent of cancer cases in Nigeria occurring in females, the common cancer cases are breast and cervical cancer. Spotting cancer early means treatment is more likely to be successful”, Ajekigbe said.
Breast cancer is currently the most common malignancy in the country, 1 in every 25 women are at risk but higher risks exist for women between of 45 and 60 and also women who had their first child after the age of 30.
Larne Yusuf a general medical practitioner working in a private hospital told BusinessDay that cancer affects millions of Nigerians each year, including those in treatment and those supporting their loved ones.
“It is not easy to talk about cancer, anyone can develop cancer at any point in his or her life time, but some people are more at risk due to factors such as genetic, habits, environment and some are caused by chronic infections”,
“Cancer is preventable; we must therefore end the ignorance about cancer and save lives. More efforts should be directed in the area of massive awareness of the general populace”. said Lanre.
According to the Runcie Chidebe the executive director of Project PINK BLUE, people can protect themself against cancer with a vaccine. People rarely go to hospital or adopt preventive measure in their well-being, except they are carried to the hospital.
“Over the years there have been series of information dissemination through different avenues to people on the importance of vaccination especially polio but little emphasis has been focused on cancer prevention through vaccination or vaccines against cancer”.
“And despite the resources available, preventable diseases such as cervical and liver cancer still constitute health risks. This is due to insufficient information or outright misinformation.” Runcie revealed.
Some facts about the prevalence of cancer in Nigeria has shown that the incidence of cervical cancer in Nigeria is 25 of 100,000 and there are approximately 32 million Nigerian women aged 15-64 years old.
Every year, over 10,000 Nigerian women are given a diagnosis of cervical cancer and over 8,000 Nigerian women die from this largely preventable killer.
Meanwhile prostate cancer is the commonest cancer in adult males. About one in 36 men will develop the cancer in their life time, while one in six afflicted men will die of the disease.
Anthonia Obokoh