The Kwara State government will soon commence cancer screening for women, youths, adults and the aged as a way of arresting the growing cases of the disease in the country.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Raji AbdulRazaq made this known in Ilorin when the Civil Society for Cancer Eradication in Nigeria (CiSCANEN) visited him in the office.
According to him, the mass screening would afford the government the opportunity to have on record, cases of people with cancer in the state in order to ensure necessary interventions and treatments, using cryotherapy.
The Commissioner stressed the need for people to be sensitized on cancer in order to know that environmental factors expose people to cancer.
Abdulrazak gave assurance that government would collaborate with relevant agencies to promote health care services in the state.
Cancer, he said was a global problem pointing out that Nigeria as a country is not an exception.
The Commissioner warned against smoking which is a predisposing factor to diseases like tuberculosis adding that genetics which is hereditary is also a factor in cancer.
Earlier, Mr Banjo Famuyiwa, CISCANEN Coordinator had said the visit was part of the group’s activities to commemorate the World Cancer Day celebration fixed for February 4, 2020
Famuyiwa said the World Cancer Day was an international day set aside to create awareness on cancer and collaborate with necessary stakeholders to arrest its scourge.
According to him, cases of cancer related cases leading to death were at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), but said: “however, there are no data to give accurate number of deaths’’.
News Hub Mag! reports that he decried poor level of awareness on cancer related issues and the cost of treatment and also called for proper data keeping to guide in the fight against the disease.
