STATEMENT ON THE WORLD CANCER DAY

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) joins the rest of the world in marking the World Cancer Day 2019 and recognises the need for all stakeholders to be involved in the struggle against cancer in Nigeria. According to Nigeria’s National Cancer Control Plan 2018-2022 (NNCCP or the Plan), cancer is responsible for 72,000 deaths in Nigeria every year, with an estimated 102,000 new cases of cancer annually.

CSJ notes with deep concern that cancer awareness and sensitization programmes are at the most rudimentary stages and have not sufficiently taken off across the federation. Awareness of lifestyle modifications that encourage the reduction of contact between individuals and carcinogens has not been mainstreamed in popular health and social discourse. Cancer in Nigeria is characterized by high mortality ratio which has its foundation in late presentation, low access to treatment and poor treatment outcomes as many patients come in at advanced stages of the ailment, at the time of their arrival for treatment. Routine screening for cancers is also not a feature of our health system.

The 2018-2022 Plan is recent and not much has been done towards its implementation as many stakeholders are not even aware of its existence. States are yet to develop the annual operation plans envisaged in the NNCCP. Furthermore, the bill for a National Agency on Cancer Control is still in the National Assembly (NASS) while the bill for the National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment has been passed by NASS and awaits presidential approval. In terms of standards, National Cancer Screening Guidelines for all levels of health care delivery is a proposal contained in the NNCCP which is yet to be implemented.

Considering the high cost of cancer treatment and the paucity of facilities in Nigeria, prevalent poverty in the population and the slow uptake of health insurance, it has become imperative for federal, state and local governments to take adequate, targeted and concrete steps to implement the Plan and:

• Establish cancer screening centres across the Federation;
• Invest heavily in preventive measures including massive awareness raising and sensitisation of the populace on the causes of cancer, early detection and treatment;
• Increase budgetary resources for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer;
• States should develop their annual operation plans envisaged in the NNCCP;
• The National Assembly and the President should ensure the early passage and assent to relevant bills on cancer care.

The foregoing is the minimum expectation of all Nigerians who are entitled to the full enjoyment of their right to the highest attainable state of physical and mental health.

Eze Onyekpere                                                       Victor Emejuiwe

Lead Director                                            Programme Officer, Good Governance

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