- Title: NIGERIA: NGOs seek innovative solutions to fight cancer
- Date: 5th February 2014
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (FEBRUARY 04, 2014) (REUTERS) STREET IN LAGOS/ EXTERIOR OF CANCER SCREENING CENTRE VARIOUS OF BANNER READING: "FREE CANCER SCREENING FOR WOMEN" VARIOUS OF FEMI OLALEYE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, OPTIMAL CANCER CARE FOUNDATION, ADDRESSING A GROUP OF WOMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) FEMI OLALEYE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, OPTIMAL CANCER CARE FOUNDATION, SAYING: "Some of the cancer cases we get are really late stage, so most of the cases that our doctors here can handle are not designed for late stage, so therefore majority of our women, when they turn up for cancer treatment they are already too late so our health system is probably not equipped. For example, a woman with breast cancer, has removed the lump, she needs radiotherapy, how many radiotherapy centres do we have in Nigeria that are working? So the woman will have to go abroad. A woman needs chemotherapy for example, some of the chemotherapy regime we are using are outdated. There are modern new chemotherapy regimes that will not give too many side effects profiled for these our patients are not available, if there are, they are too expensive." VARIOUS OF WOMEN LISTENING VARIOUS OF HEALTH WORKER DEMONSTRATING HOW TO PERFORM A SELF-EXAMINATION TO CHECK FOR BREAST LUMPS VARIOUS OF WOMEN ON A QUEUE WAITING TO BE TESTED (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADEWALE MARYANNE, LAGOS RESIDENT, SAYING: "Cancer is a very deadly disease and it kills faster than AIDS like they say, and I think there has been a lot of enlightenment about it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAKA ADENIKE, LAGOS RESIDENT, SAYING: "When you know your status about the cancer, if it is being detected, it's better they give you the treatment as early as possible, and if you are negative, fine, you know how to take good care of yourself. People should go for their screening, for their tests, it's not painful, it's okay. People should not be scared when they hear about cancer, there is no big deal about it." PATIENTS CURTAIN GUARD HANDS STERILISING MEDICAL EQUIPMENT VARIOUS OF WOMAN BEING SCREENED FOR CANCER VARIOUS OF MOBILE CANCER ONLINE APP DEVELOPERS IN THEIR OFFICE (UPSOUND) (English) VOICE OF GBOLAHUN RAJI, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEAD, YOUTH VISION ALLIANCE NETWORK, SAYING: "What the app is meant to do is to actually educate the people on breast cancer. Right now we actually have five buttons, the first one is more on breast cancer, and you can actually read all about breast cancer. We actually have other buttons which 2, 3, 4 ... on page 2, these are the frequently asked questions on breast cancer, you can play it on the back button to go back and move to other pages." SCREEN-SHOT OF LAPTOP READING: "WHAT IS CANCER OF THE CERVIX?" SCREEN-SHOT OF LAPTOP READING: "HOW CAN I CARRY OUT BREAST SELF EXAMINATION?" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ZAID SHOPEJU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, YOUTH VISION ALLIANCE NETWORK, SAYING: "We intend to reach more young people that are on smart phones and we feel that when we reach one young person in a family, we have gotten to the family as a whole. So a woman, a lady can have this app on their android phone and get this information, they will be our channel, our spokesperson in different families. So the app is just one step towards educating and raising awareness about cancer which we feel that is really important. Education and awareness campaign will help us in advocating for policies that will bring about national strategy for cancer control in Nigeria." VARIOUS OF WOMEN WAITING TO BE SCREENED
- Embargoed: 20th February 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Reuters ID: LVA6OMG7CR4SS6F6OT9ZN42YV1EC
- Story Text: According to the World Health Organisation, more women are being diagnosed with and dying from breast cancer.
Of 14.1 million new cancer cases reported in 2012, 1.7 million were breast cancer cases, an increase of about 20 percent since 2008.
In developing countries, many women do not survive because they seek medical attention too late and lack access to effective treatment.
To help spread awareness and educate women about breast cancer, free screening centres were set up in key towns across Nigeria to mark World Cancer Day on Tuesday (February 4).
Building on the success of their 2013 campaign where they were able to test 500 people, the Optimal Care Cancer Foundation, a Lagos based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) decided to conduct the screenings to battle the stigma associated with cancer and dispel myths about the disease.
Hundreds of women turned up at this local suburb in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital to get free breast cancer and cervical cancer tests.
The women who were eager to know their cancer status were first taught about the disease in their local dialect by Femi Olaleye, Optimal Care Cancer Foundation's medical director.
After, they were shown how to perform breast self-exams to check for lumps or any anomalies.
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012. In Nigeria, an estimated 100,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year.
Olaleye says many die because of a lack of proper medical facilities and late detection.
"Some of the cancer cases we get are really late stage, so most of the cases that our doctors here can handle are not designed for late stage, so therefore majority of our women, when they turn up for cancer treatment they are already too late so our health system is probably not equipped. For example, a woman with breast cancer, has removed the lump, she needs radiotherapy, how many radiotherapy centres do we have in Nigeria that are working? So the woman will have to go abroad. A woman needs chemotherapy for example, some of the chemotherapy regime we are using are outdated. There are modern new chemotherapy regimes that will not give too many side effects profiled for these our patients are not available, if there are, they are too expensive," explained Olaleye, Optimal Care Cancer Foundation's medical director.
According to the Institute of Human Virology in Nigeria, more than 40 percent of cancers in the country are found in women; cervical cancer is at 17 percent and cancer of the ovaries, 3.7 percent.
Those who attended the screenings said they were better informed and were glad they took the test.
"Cancer is a very deadly disease and it kills faster than AIDS like they say, and I think there has been a lot of enlightenment about it," said Maryanne Adewale, a Lagos resident.
"When you know your status about the cancer, if it is being detected, it's better they give you the treatment as early as possible, and if you are negative, fine, you know how to take good care of yourself. People should go for their screening, for their tests, it's not painful, it's okay. People should not be scared when they hear about cancer, there is no big deal about it," said Saka Adenike, a teacher living in Lagos.
Also trying to raise awareness is another NGO, the Youth Vision Alliance Network, which has developed Nigeria's first mobile application (app) that makes information about cancer available for smart phone users.
The app, which was launched on World Cancer Day has so far only had about 65 downloads but the creators hope it will reach many more people.
Gbolahan Raji, Head of Information Technology at Youth Vision Alliance Network explained how it works.
"What the app is meant to do is to actually educate the people on breast cancer. Right now we actually have five buttons, the first one is more on breast cancer, and you can actually read all about breast cancer. We actually have other buttons which 2, 3, 4...on page 2, these are the frequently asked questions on breast cancer, you can play it on the back button to go back and move to other pages," he said.
The app will be constantly updated with new information about cancer and is accessible to users of android phones with plans to include other smartphone users and SMS forms for those who do not use phones with internet access.
"We intend to reach more young people that are on smart phones and we feel that when we reach one young person in a family, we have gotten to the family as a whole. So a woman, a lady can have this app on their android phone and get this information, they will be our channel, our spokesperson in different families. So the app is just one step towards educating and raising awareness about cancer which we feel that is really important. Education and awareness campaign will help us in advocating for policies that will bring about national strategy for cancer control in Nigeria," said Zaid Shopeju, executive director of the network.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) predicts that by 2035, there will be more than 24 million new cases of cancer, with 13 million cancer deaths every year but half of that can be avoided if there is concentrated efforts of cancer prevention.
Majority of cancer cases are now occurring in the developing world where effective treatment and detection remain unattainable for most. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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