Senator Dayo Faduyile has assured the Nigerian Cancer society of his readiness to collaborate with it on the push for awareness and advocacy on Cancer challenges in Nigeria. He gave this indication while hosting the Executives of Nigerian Cancer society in his suite at the National Assembly complex, Abuja on Wednesday.
Senator Faduyile, a professor of pathology and Forensic medicine noted that Cancer occurs at the latter stage of life and it is so much capital intensive that advocacy about its prevention should be given a priority attention by all Nigerians across all ages and social status. He noted that cure for cancer is expensive with an assurance to project motions about cervical cancer in his bid to push more advocacy in this regard. The federal lawmaker moaned the lack of medical equipment necessary for treatment of cancer in Nigerian hospitals.
The president of the Nigeria cancer society, professor Abidemi Omonisi congratulated Senator Faduyile for his election victory adding that with his highly inspiring performance during his days as the president of the Nigeria medical Association ( NMA), the society has no doubt he will succeed on his new assignment. He adds that the society hopes to strengthen engagement with the senate in areas of mutual interest and how to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership in cancer prevention, awareness, early detection, access to and cost of care, research, capacity building, survivorship and advocacy.
Although the latest International Agency for Research on Cancer( IARC) country specific cancer profile for Nigeria still records 127,763 new cases and 79,542 deaths in 2022, the global cancer issue has become even more alarming as the IARC newly released GLOBOCAN 2024 puts global new cases at 20.6 million with 9.8 million deaths and a projection of 67 percent increase in annual cases by 2050.
In Nigeria, the federal government says it is currently expanding cancer infrastructure including six cancer centres if excellence while it has approved the procurement of 35 additional linear accelerators between 2027 and 2029 to expand radiotherapy capacity.
Senator Faduyile’s pledge on advocacy is therefore important because as Nigeria moves towards expanding cancer infrastructure, advocacy can also help ensure that the expansion reaches patients and is properly funded, distributed and maintained.
