Nigeria’s Minister of the Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has declared cancer as one the priority project in the nation’s health sector. Prof. Adewole made this statement on Thursday during the commemoration of the 2016 World Cancer Day in Abuja.
He said that Federal Government has initiated a planning process that would culminate in the transformation of the National Cancer Control Programme into a National Agency.
He pointed out that the National Agency for Cancer Control would provide leadership and Technical direction for Cancer Control in Nigeria, adding that it would be a multidisciplinary center involving all health care personnel, basic and social scientists including public health experts.
Adewole emphasized that the Agency would focus on the following areas: Policy formulation, Advocacy and Mobilization, Center of excellence for cancer prevention and care and Palliation.
“The Agency would drive a comprehensive cancer treatment, including palliative care, research and teaching whilst paying attention to the needs of the individual cancer patient.’’ he said.
He explained that the pivot of the cancer control would be health promotion and prevention from primary healthcare level, to achieve this, the ministry is working on strengthening primary Healthcare system across the nation including building a formidable workforce to provide essential outreach services which will include Health Promotion, adding that the One PHC Per Ward Initiative would also link up with Secondary and Tertiary care through strong Referral Systems.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Enahire Osagie, noted that over 60% of all cancer cases in Nigeria occur in women and are mainly due to Breast and Cervical Cancer.
Dr.Osagie pointed out that the key barriers to treatment of cancer in Nigeria include competing priorities for Government Attention, low Number of Skilled Health Care Personnel, Funding Gaps, Poor Infrastructure and lack of Awareness.
“Government plans to overcome these key challenges include the development of Public Private Partnerships strategies to address the funding gaps and manpower shortage”, he said.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director, Project Pink Blue, Runcie Chidebe, said that the World Cancer Day 2016 marks the beginning of a new three – year Campaign with the theme “WE CAN, I CAN” it would explore how everyone as an individual or collective would do to reduce the Global burden of cancer .
He said we all have the power to take various actions to reduce the impact that cancer has on Individuals, Families and Communities.
