‘Vaccination before being sexually active can lower risk of cervical cancer’

Lakeshore Cancer Centre is Nigeria’s first operational facility solely dedicated to cancer prevention and treatment. Oge Ilegbune a general practitioner, head of strategy, development and outreach at Lakeshore Cancer Centre and Bindiya Sadarangani, Center director recently spoke to BusinessDay’s Anthonia Obokoh, on cancer management and risk factors to be wary of to mark World Cancer Day, when the Centre is offering free screening and testing.

Oge: What is the impact of Lakeshore Cancer Centre’s activities on prevention and management of the disease?

Lakeshore Cancer Center was started over three years ago, by our CEO Chukwumere Nwogu, a Nigerian, trained abroad. He is a Professor of Thoracic Surgical Oncology and Cancer Epidemiologist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York.

Based on the reality that cancer care was not where it should be in Nigeria, and too many people were dying of the disease, due to lack of awareness, he decided to set up a small facility that caters to this need and it has grown over the years.

Lakeshore Cancer Center is the first operational facility in Nigeria solely dedicated to cancer prevention and treatment. The Centre is not a multi-specialty hospital; we concentrate on cancer and everything to do with cancer which includes: screening, diagnosis, treatment with chemotherapy, surgery, health education and awareness, counseling, palliation. We also run a general practice service which is tailored to our patients and anyone else who wants to ask questions. This is what we are doing at the moment. We are most likely going to expand to accommodate radiotherapy, which is also one of the main stay of treatment for some cancers and some stages.

Our team consists of certified cancer specialists and a cross section of highly dedicated and passionate professionals. We are closely affiliated with the oldest cancer center in the world – Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) located in Buffalo, New York. Founded in 1898, RPCI is world renowned, and is committed to the global eradication of cancer.

Bindiya: Would you say cancer has reached an epidemic proportion in Nigeria?

Yes, very much so. A 2002 statistics revealed that cancer afflicts more people than HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined in the world. So when you look at it that way, it is becoming an epidemic.

Right now, in Nigeria we focus more on communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria but actually non communicable diseases like cancer is afflicting more people especially youths.

There is a general rise in cancer cases, and more women are afflicted with cervical cancer, next to breast cancer.

Cervical cancer is largely undetectable because of the location of the cervix which is internal, at the mouth of the womb, hence we are encouraging women to undergo screen because it is one of the cancers that can be screened by doing a Pap smear test. It is also easily treated once it is found. The test is done every three years.

Cervical cancer is linked to Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is one the main risk factor for developing cervical cancer, so at the same time there is a preventable arm to that which involves getting people between the ages of 9 to 26 to get the vaccine just like the immunization they give to babies, which means giving the younger people before they become sexually active because the main mode of transmission is through sex. So we want to encourage the parent to make sure their children gets vaccinated before they become sexually active and for women who are not sexually active to go get it as well

Oge: How can cancer prevalence be controlled and awareness deepened in Nigeria?

At the moment so many people in Nigeria lack a lot of knowledge about cancer and have a lot of misconception and myths about the disease. There is a whole lot of fear factor in our country because most people do not allow for them to be screened or tested due to their religious beliefs.

Controlling cancer prevalence in Nigeria, like every other pathology or illness either communicable or non-communicable, requires educating people. Knowledge is power. Information is very important to change the behavior of a people.

Bindiya: Nigeria does not have an accurate data on cancer because people get tested in different centres and those data are not properly collated making it difficult to have accurate data on the disease.

In terms of screening today, compared to when we opened three years ago, more people are aware of cancer but we still have a long way to go because of the poverty level in the country most people are not able to afford screening, hence there is need for government and corporate organisations to provide support.

However, to deepen cancer awareness in the county, we need to get more people to talk about it, advocate that more people needs to be screened, most cancer can be cured and some cancers are preventable that is probably the first step.

We have other steps when it comes to cancer management, which includes having more oncologists, more cancer units in the country and more equipment, but I think education and awareness for the general public is very important and the government needs to develop a national screening programme because advocacy cannot do it alone, we still need government to intervene.

What are the lifestyle modification people need to adopt to reduce the prevalence of cancer in Nigeria?

Oge: What I always tell people is that the lifestyle modification for cancer prevention is not different from lifestyle modifications that should be adopted for hypertension or diabetes mellitus.

Most of the risk factors cut cross across the pathology and it still boils down to a healthy lifestyle: regular exercises, balanced diet, avoiding smoking, reduction of alcohol intake, reduce stress, get a good sleep, as they are directly or indirectly linked to cancer. It is important to be cautious of the environment in terms of pollution, including exhaust fumes from vehicles and other machines.

If you notice that several people have died in your family due to the same form of cancer or a related cancer, you can do a genetic testing to know if you got the gene.

What is your plan this year in improving cancer awareness?

Oge:

Cancer advocacy involves many players and stakeholders uniting in various ways to do as much as possible to reduce the dismal cancer statistics especially in Nigeria.

World Cancer Day is always on the 4th of February and serves as a clarion call for everyone to ask themselves how they can help and what they can do.

Lakeshore Cancer Center can help with this question. We will be hosting in partnership with other healthcare providers a Health Fair to commemorate World Cancer Day on the 3rd of March 2018 from 8am to 5pm.

The idea is to offer as many free cancer and other health screening services on the day and be available to impart information and entertain questions from the general public. Knowledge is power and early detection for any disease is key. Our contribution is to offer our services free.

What message do you have for Nigeria as the world celebrates World Cancer Day?

Oge:

We as individuals needs to take ownership of our health because there are places we can go to get screened, we do not have to wait until we get down with the disease. The earlier we get screened the more chances of survival. We also need to conquer fear that having cancer does not mean a death sentence.

We urge the government to bring in more Non- governmental Organisations and foundations just like what they did to HIV drugs, because we do not have a health insurance that is working so government can use the same template used for HIV for cancer.