Why cancer is a silent killer in Nigeria
Nigeria is one of the countries with rising cases of cancer, and ironically, it is also the most poorly equipped in handling the terminal disease. For a country that its leaders are notorious for travelling abroad for the most insignificant medical treatment, this does not come as a surprise.
But as the world marked World Cancer Day on February 4, the issue of Nigeria’s slow pace in tackling the disease is becoming rather unfortunate. The situation is dire as only 8 public hospitals reportedly have radiotherapy machines in the country. The President of the NMA, Dr. Francis Faduyile had said early last year that only four out of the 8 radiotherapy centres were functioning optimally.
With these inadequate facilities, Dr. Faduyile admitted to The Punch that most of the patients reach the critical stage of the terminal ailment while waiting for their turn.
“It is obvious that anybody who has cancer in Nigeria currently is doomed to die because some of them have to go to Ghana, some of them have to go to India, but those who cannot afford to travel abroad will have a long wait and by the time it is their turn it must have gone beyond redemption, most of them die miserable deaths,” he said.
With the dismissive attitude of most Nigerians when it comes to medical check-ups, a lot of cancer patients do not even know that they have the disease. And since it’s symptoms can be similar to that of other diseases, the patients often take it as another sickness until it becomes irreversible. The cancerous cells continue to grow uncontrollably and destroy body tissues.
There are many causes of cancer including poor nutrition, heavy consumption of alcohol, aging, weak immune system, and genetics.
The three most common types of cancer in Nigeria are breast cancer, cervical cancer, and prostate cancer. They are responsible for the death of 281,308 Nigerians from 2016 to date. And recently 406 new cases have been reported.
It is estimated that 80,000 people die from cancer annually in Nigeria and 250,000 new cases are recorded. In 2018 alone, 41,000 died from cancer in the country and 115,950 new cases were reported.
The report from various studies conducted by WHO shows how the issue affects people based on gender. According to the findings, 29 women die from cervical cancer while 31 die from breast cancer everyday. Prostate cancer is reported as the leading cause of cancer death in Nigerian men, killing 15 everyday.
Cancer is both preventable and curable but 99 percent of the reported cases always end tragically in Nigeria because of the following reasons:
Lack of proper awareness
There are too few awareness programmes on the prevention, detection, and management of cancer cases, especially in rural areas.
Wrong diagnosis
Though the ministry of health recommends periodic medical check-ups to ensure early detection and therapy, there have been numerous reports of wrong diagnosis until it becomes almost too late.
Lack of facilities and personnel
The shortage of facilities and trained medical personnel have hindered the progress in the cure and prevention of cancer in Nigeria. It is sad that only 8 hospitals in the country have radiotherapy machines and the number reduces sharply when you judge by global standards.
The price for treatment
The procedures that cancer treatment requires like chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, precision medicine, stem cell, radiation therapy, surgery, etc are very costly and most patients cannot afford any of them.
This has caused many patients to die in silent pain as everyone caries on. But to reduce the number of people who are killed everyday by cancer, more funding and adequate facilities need to be provided for diagnosing and treating the ailment.
