IT is expected that annual cancer cases will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next two decades, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said in its recent cancer update in Nigeria.
To this end, the association has called for the establishment of a functional National Cancer Registry to increase cancer awareness and create effective policies as a way forward, in taming the deadly disease in the country.
Besides, it said Nigeria must identify and explore the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the existing well conceived National Cancer Control Plan; and also establish and subsidise cancer screening and care.
Also as a way forward, it advocated improved community health education; and an improved infrastructure by setting up more cancer /Oncology centres .
In the update, it also advocated increases Cancer awareness, with more pressure exerted on political leaders to institute policies for cancer prevention.
In an update released to the media at the weekend, the NMA stated that cancer was a substantial global public health burden.
The association added: “Its incidence is still on the increase and the situation is even worse in resource poor developing countries. It is expected that annual cancer cases will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next two decades.
“However, it is important to note that about 30 per cent of cancer deaths is due to five leading behavioral and dietary risks.”
It listed them as high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, physical inactivity, tobacco use and alcohol use, which are all preventable.
The association, however, regretted that in Africa, few exact data were available on cancer and the data for the continent were mostly estimates.
Such data, it said, were important not only to assess the size of the burden of the disease, but to investigate potential risk factors for cancer, to estimate the optimum geographical distribution of resources, to project expenditure and measure the effectiveness of policies for prevention and treatment.
It pointed out that recent research had also shown that cancer in the Black had different molecular attributes which made the cancers aggressive with a poorer outcome.
“It is, therefore, compelling that these peculiar challenges be addressed among the Black. In Nigeria, with a population of about 170 million, almost 100 thousand new cases of cancer occur annually while 75,000 deaths are recorded per one year.
“Despite these figures there is no nationwide population-based cancer registry to help understand the epidemiology of cancer, to create effective policies and to trace progress in prevention and treatment of cancer in the country.”
The NMA observed that Health Budgets concentrate more on containing infectious diseases (Malaria, TB and HIV) as the young and economically active segment of the population can be substantially affected by these diseases and national prosperity depends on the good health of this population group.
It also added that Cancer treatment is resource–intense and because most patients present late, their survival is short; while people affected by cancer rarely develop political influence because most of these patients do not live long enough.
The association also observed that the effect of risk factors for cancer (tobacco smoking) is not immediately apparent, as people do not take prevention seriously.
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