With one child diagnosed of cancer, every three minutes, experts have called for a cancer registry for children living with cancer in Nigeria even as they expressed concern over the denial attitude of Nigerians about the incidence. Speaking during the 2015 Bald Challenge Funfair of the Children Living with Cancer Foundation, CLWCF, recently in Lagos, Executive Director, Dr Nneka Nwaobbi, said the country is doing badly as children are dying because of the poor state of the health care system, coupled with denial of parents as well as lack of commitment to support of childhood cancer.
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“Today, NHIS does not cover any childhood cancer medication or treatment. There is need for Nigerians to accept that there is childhood cancer in Nigeria,” he said. The government should accept that we have a problem and that is where the cancer registry comes in. It is important to know how many kids are coming down, how many are cured, how many are dying and at what stage are they coming in and the type of cancer they are coming in with. Regretting the silence about childhood cancer, she said: “Cancer is not a death sentence it is frightening but there is need to talk about it. “Nigeria lacks a cancer registry. We do not have a strong database for cancer in Nigeria. We have begun to collate data. In the next two years, we will be able to know and tell what it is like in Nigeria and that data will be authentic. What we are using now is American and Canadian statistics. We need our own statistics.
” She further urged parents to always take their children for full blood count screening as there is no age range for cancer. “When children have cancer, they are not only affected but the whole family. At a point, a parent must stop work and the income becomes a problem.
It breaks families and leaves them bankrupt.,” she explained. On her part, Prof, Ifeoma Okoye, University of Nigeria, College of Medicine and Optician Hospital, Enugu, said there is need to increase awareness so that parents will take action when they see abnormal signs and symptoms in their children.
“Any abnormal mass any where even when it is indolent should be reported to a doctor. When you have any growing lump, there is need to go and see a doctor, People should stop assuming it will go.
By: Chioma Obinna
Vanguard News
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