A team of medical doctors in Ekiti State on Monday raised the alarm over the spread of breast, cervical and prostrate cancers, which they described as the greatest enemies of women in the state.
The doctors, acting under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Association, lamented that breast cancer accounted for over 40 per cent of deaths among women in the state.
Members of the team, including the Chairman of the Ekiti chapter of NMA, Dr Tunji Omotayo; his predecessor, Dr Sunday Omoya; and the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Prof Rotimi Sanya, spoke in Ado Ekiti during the World Cancer Day 2019 Walk and Awareness Campaign.
Omoya, who is the Chairman of the NMA National Committee on Cancer, said, “Breast cancer is killing our women. it is rampant in Ekiti, followed by cervical and prostate cancers. So, there is need for our women to come for screening. It is reducing the life expectancy of our people.
“What really affected us most is the fact that many of those afflicted with cancer come to us when the disease has reached advanced stage and damaged their systems. We must increase the awareness campaign and people should come for screening. They must not have the erroneous impression that cancer is a death sentence. It is treatable and preventable, depending on stage.”
Sanya, who said his wife survived cancer 12 years ago, said, “Our people shouldn’t think that the moment you are carrying the disease, then you are dead. It is wrong to think this way. It is deceptive to say that it is a terminal ailment”.
Omoya, who presented the address of the NMA National President, Dr Francis Faduyile, at the event, said that statistics showed that about 9.6 million people died of cancer around the world in 2018.
Faduyile had stated, “The World Health Organisation estimated that there were 18.1 million new cases in 2018, which was a significant increase of about 4 million cases, compared to the last estimate of 14.1 million new cases in 2012.
“It is estimated that one in every five men and one in every six women develop cancer in their lifetime and that one in every eight men and one in 11 women die of cancer globally. These are worrying trends and we must all rise up to curb it.” (Punch)
