Bauchi Assembly Partners Foundation on Cancer Prevention

By Segun Awofadeji

The Bauchi State House of Assembly (BAHA) has expressed readiness to partner with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) known as Alheri YS Foundation to reduce and prevent cancer among the people in the state.

This was made known yesterday by the Speaker of the BAHA, Rt. Hon. Abubakar Suleiman, when he received members of the foundation who paid him a courtesy visit.

Suleiman described cancer as one of the major killer diseases, especially women in the state and the country at large in a press statement that was issued to journalists by his Spokesperson, Mr. Abdul Ahmad Burra.

He pointed out that there was the need for collaboration to curb the disease, and assured the NGO that the legislatures would collaborate with the executive arm to establish breast cancer management agency unit in the state.

The speaker commended the NGO for their humanitarian services in the state and pledged the BAHA’s readiness to collaborate with them to enlighten the populace through media outreach on the signs and symptoms of the breast cancer.

He said that the outreach would promote early detection of the disease and comprehensive diagnosis of the disease in the state to ensure the safety of lives.

In their remarks, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Hon. Saleh Sarkin Jadori, and a member of the committee Hon. Sale Hodi Jibir, described the visit as timely, stressing that early detection of cancer is key to saving lives.

Speaking earlier, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Miss Alheri Yusuf, said that the purpose of the visit was to brief the speaker on the activities of the foundation and seek areas of collaboration.

According to Yusuf, the foundation is a non-profit making organisation that aids in humanitarian services to individuals and communities in the state in areas of education, health, women empowerment and child development.

She explained that the foundation has engaged in the fight against cancer and has supported 14 children diagnosed with treatments band chemotherapy at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital.

She described cancer as a deadly malignant disease that is prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, and stressed that people of the North-east part of the country are struggling to cope with the increasing burden of the cancer and other communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The director added that cancer is among the major diseases in Nigeria with over 100,000 new cases and 70, 000 deaths recorded annually.

She called on the state assembly to collaborate with the executive arm to establish breast cancer management agency unit and zonal diagnostic centers with hematology and pathology laboratories across the state for proper diagnosis, which would help in addressing the cases of cancer by 80 per cent in Bauchi State.