WORLD CANCER DAY 2021: Tallen Urges Nigerians To Synergize in Fighting Cancer
Oru Leonard
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen has called for synergy and collaborative effort of Nigerians in the fight for Cancer.
The Minister who was represented by the Director, Women Development, Funke Oladipo, at a Walk and Run to commemorate 2021 World Cancer Day, organised by the Women in ICT on Thursday, said that 70 percent of the 9.6 million cancer deaths occur in developing countries due to lack of awareness and resources to diagnose and manage the sickness.
She said that fighting cancer can be achieved better if Nigerians come together in all of their actions and interventions to address the challenges of cancer in the country.
“Cancer in Nigeria is assuming an alarming proportion as recent statistics on female cancer such as breast, cervix, liver etc., has shown an upsurge of cancer in women.
“However, findings revealed that cancers are preventable as early diagnosis of cancer can save lives. Therefore, education is paramount to ensure fall in incidence rates in Nigeria”, she said.
She further said that awareness creation should also be targeted at the male gender, as the number of women suffering from prostate cancer, colon cancer and other forms of cancer have increased in recent times. She therefore, urged Women in ICT, relevant government bodies, CSOs, donor partners, private organizations and individuals to raise to continue raising awareness and educating both genders about cancer.
The President, Women in ICT, Dr. Chinwe Anyachebelu while addressing Journaliists who said her organization uses technology and social media to sensitize Nigerians on cancer, disclosed that their aim is to detect and protect lives as the rate of death from cancer is alarming, disclosing also that the walk was in honour of the group’s former president who died of breast cancer. She appealed to the public to visit hospitals for regular check-up as early detection is very important.
“You might not be necessarily sick before you go to the hospital, you can just walk into the hospital to do a proper check-up routine. Our aim is to save millions of lives, sensitize people and let them know that this thing called cancer is real”, she said
World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer mortality can be reduced if cases are detected and treated early.
WORLD CANCER CANCER DAY 2021 – TOGETHER, ALL OF OUR ACTIONS MATTER.
