By Thompson Yamput
Civil Society for Cancer Eradication in Nigeria (CiSCANEN) has called on the Federal Government to engage Community based organisations to reduce the spread of Cancer in Nigeria.
The CiSCANEN National Coordinator, Dr (Mrs) Adegoke Elijah made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.
Elijah noted that Cancer cases in Africa, and Nigeria in particular, are marked by late presentations, thereby reducing the chance of accessing timely treatments.
She said that cancer treatments remain unaffordable for average Nigerians, hence the high mortality rate largely due to the devastating effects of the disease.
“To address this concern, Nigeria governments, and other stakeholders have rolled out several policies and interventions as detailed in the National Cancer Control Plan, the establishment of Cancer Health Fund (CHF), the establishment of National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) among others.
“In a bid to assess how effective some of these interventions have been, our organisation, CiSCANEN conducted an online survey aimed at engaging community based organisations, who are closer to the people, to estimate their level of knowledge on the subject matter.
“The study shows that out of the total of 2035 CBO spread across Nigeria interviewed, 1250 (61.42%) have no training on early early symptoms and ways to encourage early detection of common cancers, while 1625(79.85%) CBOs claim to be ignorant of the existence of Cancer Health Fund in Nigeria.
“Most community based organisations who are closer to the communities, are not medical experts, and can’t function optimally.
“This shows that government and other stakeholders have not engaged the grassroot people and CBOs enough, and this will definitely reduce the effectiveness of various existing interventions.
“Just like how HIV/AIDS was stemmed down in Nigeria, knowledge on early symptoms of major cancer and ways to encourage early detection of cancer must be spread around to all Nigerians, including the hard- to-reach communities.
“CISCANEN, which is the network of all civil societies working on Cancer mitigation in Nigeria, is calling on all stakeholders to join hands with her to train these CBOs so that the menace of cancer can be stemmed down in Nigeria, ” she said.
Elijah, however, advised the government and other stakeholders to ensure that adequate steps are taken to ensure that their interventions are felt at the grassroots, where they are needed most. (ephemeralnews)
