AFRICA

Nigeria: First Lady Plans N6 Billion Cancer Centre in Abuja


"Abuja — Worried by the increase in reported cases of people with cancer in Nigeria, First Lady, Turai Yar'Adua, has concluded plans to seek solution to the scourge, by proposing to build a N6 billion International Cancer Centre in Abuja.

FCT Minister, Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero, disclosed this Thursday, at a press conference to announce the Logo/Project of the Centre. Aliero who described the scourge as a terminal disease, said it is made worse by the fact that most Nigerian hospitals and medical centres, lack diagnostic capacity to quickly detect and treat cancer infections, which has greatly compounded the problem."

"The centre, Aliero said, will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and indeed West Africa. According to him, the Centre has been conceptualised by the First Lady after a study has been conducted and visit along with some Nigerian cancer specialists to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston , Texas , which is one of the largest cancer Centres in the world."

"To avoid the project going into oblivion like preceding ones when the initiator is out of office, Aliero said a Board of Trustees of competent, honest and well-trusted Nigerians will be appointed to run the Centre on permanent basis. He also disclosed that Nigerian professional footballers in Europe have indicated their willingness to contribute to the project and hoped that Nigerian entrepreneurs and philanthropists will give maximum cooperation to the project."

"With the prevalence of breast and cervical cancers in women, prostate and other cancers in men; and other cancers in children, the Centre, Akunyili said, will serve as an avenue where "men and women would be screened cognizant of the fact that most of these cancers can be treated if they are detected early." She added that "when there is such a centre on ground, it actually provides the ground for all of us not only the poor, to just stroll into the place and say 'can I be screened?'" Akunyili also canvassed for support for the project and said that since it is not government owned, if it is well managed, it will attract funding and support from international bodies and philanthropists abroad. The moving testimony of a family member of a cancer patient , Mrs. Esther Abe was heard at the ceremony. Abe's father died of prostate cancer , while her mother died of cancer of the pancreas. From the ordeal her parents and the family went through, she said "I cannot wish my enemy the disease.""

Nigeria: First Lady Plans N6 Billion Cancer Centre in Abuja (May 2009)






Cancer:Africa’s Silent Killer

While the world is focused on controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa, the increasing onslaught of cancer has been largely overlooked and ignored. According to the World Heath Organization (WHO), by 2020, African states will account for over a million new cancer cases per year out of a total of 16 million cases world-wide.

Africa remains the continent least prepared to cope with the devastating effects of this new pandemic, having only a few cancer care services available.

The puzzling question for world’s leading medical practitioners at this stage, is how cancer has managed to step outside of its traditional centre point in the West and set foot in fragile Africa. Some answers could be found in the rising pollution that is affecting an increasing number of African cities across the continent, as well as ongoing economic development and, consequently, increased life expectancy and disposable income, which has resulted in more Africans living in urban areas and adopting Western dietary patterns.

All of this have resulted in a gradual increase in cancer cases, particularly breast cancer amongst women and prostate cancer amongst men.

African men and women are not only more likely to get prostate and breast cancer respectively at a younger age, but are also more likely to be diagnosed at a more developed stage of disease. The WHO furthermore identified the underlying causes that had resulted in an increase in cancer cases. Principally, steadily aging populations, high smoking rates, poor nutrition, which is destabilizing the immune system, the spreading of a lifestyle rich in fatty foods and lacking exercise, all exacerbated the problem.

Cancer:Africa’s Silent Killer (2008)