Let do it! Cancer Worth Fighting For>>

Anyone who has been a regular listener to radio programmes in Nigeria cannot but be familiar with the voice and efforts of Mrs. Margaret Adetutu Adeleke, a business administrator, anti-cancer warrior and Convener of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in Nigeria (CEPC). For some time now, hardly any day passes without hearing the distinct voice of this admirable old lady telling Nigerians about CEPC and its plan to checkmate cancer in Nigeria.
About two weeks ago, the efforts of Mrs. Adeleke and other eminent persons who share her passion for the crusade against cancer, attained a crescendo at a charity banquet organized by the CECP at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos. The objective of the banquet, according to information jointly released by Mrs. Adeleke and the highly respected Dr. Christopher Kolade, who is the Programme Director of the CEPC-Nigeria, was to raise funds to build a Mobile Cancer Centre  (MCC) in each state of the country, and the Federal Capital Territory  (FCT), Abuja., making 37 in all. Each MCC, which will have facilities for diagnosis and treatment of common cancers such as breast, cervical and prostrate cancers, will be procured at a cost of N95 million. It will have facilities for colonoscopy( for detection of colon cancer); sonology,          and mammography, for detection of breast cancer. It is a clinic on wheels (inside vans) for screening, follow up and treatment, including surgeries. It will also deliver preventive care against treatment of diseases like diabetes, malaria, hepatitis, hypertension, AIDS and other diseases that are said to predispose people to cancer.
The CEPC is co-promoted by the Organised Private Sector in Nigeria as a platform for private sector-led united action for the common good of society. The decision of the group to take health promotion and cancer screening and prevention to the grassroots all over the country, could not have come at a better time. It came at a time that the country has lost so many of its citizens to cancer, and it has become quite glaring that all hands are needed on deck to confront the menace through greater access to screening and treatment to save lives.
Only last week, Nigeria lost the adorable Prof. Mrs. Dora Akunyili, former Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFCAC) and t Minister of Information and Communications to cancer. Unconfirmed reports also say the departed Emir of Kano succumbed to the same ailment. The list of those that cancer has claimed in Nigeria is endless. From musicians to academicians, politicians to medical doctors, no one class of Nigerians has been free from the menace of cancer. The disease, which is said to largely preventable and treatable when detected early has been killing people in droves both in Nigeria and all other parts of the world.
It is good, therefore, that the CEPC, which is a Nigerian adaptation of the CEPC that was first established in the United States of America to seek high impact solutions to societal problems, has chosen the war against cancer as its focal project for this year.
Cancer, which has claimed the lives of many Nigerians including the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, has long been adjudged the number one killer of human beings. According to information released by CEPC-Nigeria, it overtook heart disease a s the number one killer disease in the world, in 2010. This is more so as on out of every three persons will be diagnosed with cancer their lifetime, and cancer kills more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.The number of people with cancer doubled globally between 1975 and 2000, and is expected to double again by 2020, and nearly treble by 2030.
Over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer every year, out of whom about    80,000 die. The Nigerian death ratio of 4 out of e very 5 cancer cases is said to be the worst in the world, simply because most cancer cases are diagnosed late, and there is poor access to treatment.  Cancer is also a very expensive illness to treat, costing the world $895 million dollars to treat in 2008, alone. Many companies spend a lot of money to treat their sick staff who come down with cancer, while private individuals are turned into beggars in the search for funds to treat cancer when they, or their spouses or children are affected. There is no doubt that Nigeria’s health facilities are ill equipped to treat most cancer cases, and Nigerians spend over 200 million dollars looking for treatment abroad. Yet, one-third of all cancers are preventable; another one-third can be cured if detected early while good care can improve the quality of the last third.
These cancer statistics indicate that it is very important that cancer screening should be made available to the people to improve the chance of early diagnosis and treatment. The CEPC also went on to provide a list of cancer survivors both in Nigeria and worldwide to confirm the fact that cancer does not have to kill when it is detected early and treated. Among the list of cancer survivors who have graciously shared their stories are the Lagos State First Lady, Dame Abimbola Fashola; Nigeria’s first female Governor, Dame Virgy Etiaba; Mr. Frank Aja-Ukpabi, who survived nose cancer but spent N7.5 on the treatment and the musician,  Mr. Olubankole Wellington (Banky W), who survived a cancer on his shoulder.ßOn the international scene, Collin Powell, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Martina Navratilova, Senator John McCain, Kate Jackson, Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth all battled and survived various forms of cancer, although Mandela, Queen Elizabeth and Reagan died much later of old age related causes at the ages of 95, 101 and 93, respectively.
The lesson from these cancer survivors is that it is possible to survive the illness if it is detected early. This is why it is necessary for all well meaning Nigerians to support the CEPC effort to procure and deploy 37 Mobile Cancer Centres, on vans, that will be driven round all part of the country to aid the work of the National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCCP), which is said to be the first and foremost national effort to tackle the cancer in Nigeria.  The beauty of the Mobile Cancer vans is that they will not be limited to any particular locality, but can be driven into markets, schools and other places to provide screening for Nigerians.
This campaign to take cancer screening to the grassroots is proudly supported by eminent  Nigerians like Dr. Michael Omolayole, Lady Maiden Ibru , Sir Oluremi Omotoso and Mr. Felix Ohiwerei. But it is not acampaign that be  undertaken by just a few people, no matter how highly placed. The war against cancer is one that requires the support of all Nigerians to make the plan to purchase and deploy the 37 Mobile Cancers throughout the country a reality.
Mobile Cancer Centres have been effectively used in different parts of the world, including America and Egypt. The introduction of the facility in Nigeria that is being spearheaded by CEPC is a challenge to all Nigerians.