AS part of activities to mark the World Cancer Day, on Tuesday February 4, 2014, some medical experts have urged Nigerians to ensure that they go for regular cancer check ups to reduce the mortality rate, and to always imbibe a good healthy living habit.

      The call was made during the commemoration of the 2014 World Cancer Day, which was put together by Skye Bank in collaboration with Care Organisation and Public Enlightenment (COPE) Foundation in Lagos.

     Speaking at the event, a radio oncologist, from the Lagos Univeristy Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Anthonia Sowunmi, while stressing the importance of prevention and early detection, she was of the view that cancer affects everyone and makes no distinction between the rich and the poor or the old and the young. 

      “Empirical studies have revealed that it is one of the leading causes of death world wide, especially in the developing countries where inadequate medical care and lack of awareness about the disease have combined to make it very deadly. There is therefore a need for a concerted effort by both the government and the private sector to collaborate to fight the scourge of cancer in our society where incidence of the disease is on the increase”, she noted. 

       The World Cancer Day, according Sowunmi, is an avenue for stakeholders to create more awareness and make people understand that cancer can be prevented, at the same time urging different multinational companies to take a queue from what Skye Bank is doing towards creating awareness and providing a good healthcare facilities for Nigerians.

       “About 80 percent of breast cancers occur in women older than 50 years, therefore, he advised women not to trivialize any lump on their breasts even though not all lumps are cancerous.

    She listed causes of cervical cancer to include having multiple sexual partners; giving birth before the age of 17 years, smoking as well as contracting other sexually-transmitted diseases pre-dispose victims to the disease”.

       On this occasion of the 2014 ‘World Cancer Day’, Skye Bank, in collaboration with COPE Foundation will be providing free public enlightenment to members of the public by dedicating three lines through which members of the public can learn more about cancer, its prevention, control and treatment from a team of oncologists at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) from February 4-February 7. 

      The dedicated lines are 08137109164, 0018000004 and 08094442223. These lines will thereafter be in the custody of COPE Foundation and members of the public can relate with the foundation on their subsequent information  needs on the issue. 

 In the same, COPE Chief Executive Officer, Ebun Anozie, noted that the partnership between Skye Bank and COPE is to facilitate the need to support the goals of the World Cancer declaration, written in 2008.

       For Anozie, it is pertinent to realize that cancer is the world’s leading killer disease, a serial silent killer. She was of the view that almost 4.2 million people per year die prematurely (ages 30-36) due to cancer, and in Nigeria, one out of every 11 million women have breast cancer and 85% of them die due to late presentation.

       However, the Group Managing Director/ CEO of Skye Bank, Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, commended the efforts of COPE in the fight against cancer in the country, adding that it was in furtherance of the firm’s commitment towards contributing to the fight against the high incidence of cancer, especially breast cancer in the country.

“Our corporate social responsibility initiatives, by donating two breast cancer screening machines to it to facilitate screening and early detection of the disease.”  

       According to her, “the two machines, Logi Q C2 and Mind ray, are two of the best in the medical industry today and are dependable black and white ultra sound systems that enhance quality of diagnosis and ideal for clinical practices.  We are committed to and will continually intervene in key areas of public from time to time. 

Our belief is that the machines would help women to undergo early breast cancer screening at no cost and would enable them know what to do at the appropriate time. COPE has been awesome in this regard as its activities have saved numerous lives that otherwise would have been lost.”