In an effort to address the rising number of cancer cases in Nigeria, the Federal Government (FG) has announced plans to launch a comprehensive national cancer registry and data system. This was revealed by the Director-General of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Dr. Usman Aliyu during an interview with journalists in Abuja on Saturday. He said a centralized cancer registry is necessary, adding that lack of funding from government and private health centres has impeded its establishment.
According to him, NICRAT is collaborating with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) to train frontline health workers on basic cancer screening methods with the aim of early detection, provision of timely referrals and setting up grassroots-level cancer registries.
Aliyu said, “So, the best we can do is to ensure we start working on prevention and that is a collective responsibility for all Nigerians. The first level of prevention is to get the right information to the populace on the things that make people susceptible to cancer.
“If you can educate people on the causative agents and behavior, then they have been empowered about cancer. Many have died of cancer in Nigeria but were unaware of what caused their death and this can be blamed on poor education and lack of adequate documentation.”
Speaking on the implementation of the Cancer Health Fund (CHF), he said a committee had been established to iron out details such as the framework, operational plan, challenges, amongst others.
