ADDRESSING THE CANCER BURDEN

Health authorities should do more to contain the scourge

The 2025 World Cancer Day was commemorated yesterday with the theme, ‘United by Unique’, a three-year campaign (2025-2027) that seeks to promote the experiences of patients, survivors, and caregivers while motivating the understanding of empathy in cancer treatment. Like in previous years, not much attention was paid to the scourge that is ravaging the country. Yet, the current economic crisis in the country has further worsened the plight of cancer patients who rely on out-of-pocket expenses for treatment and care.

Although incidents of cancer have been on the increase in many regions of the world, mortality is relatively higher in Nigeria due to the lack of access to treatment facilities, and late diagnosis, among others. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), estimated incidents for the top five commonest types of cancers in Nigeria are breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer in the order. Nigeria also records about 79,542 cancer deaths annually, according to the International Agency for the Research on Cancer (IARC).    

While the alarming rate of death from cancer points to the state of medical institutions, it is important for critical stakeholders to understand the danger the disease poses to the future of the country. It is bad enough that cancer is a terminal disease, it is worse when most Nigerian medical centres lack the diagnostic capacity to quickly detect and treat infections. That should encourage discussions on how to fashion both preventive and curative solutions at all levels.

With data showing that the cost of cancer treatment and management is not in sync with the income of most Nigerians suffering from any type of the disease, government and other stakeholders must put a framework in place to encourage early diagnosis, and

access to affordable treatment and management. This would prevent late-stage diagnosis as well as help those suffering from the scourge to get proper treatment without them worrying over who pays the bill. Available statistics reveal that about 72 per cent of cancer patients in Nigeria pay out- of- pocket for their care.

 Fortunately, the country’s healthcare system is tilting towards Universal Health Coverage (UCH) with the establishment of the Basic Health Care Provisions Fund (BHCPF) and health insurance schemes at both the national and state levels. There is a need to inculcate cancer care into all UHC programmes particularly to save the poor. This framework must ensure Nigerians, irrespective of location, can access diagnosis and treatment while government sets aside from the insurance pool funding to tackle their challenges. Cancer is preventable and treatable during its early stage, and Nigerians deserve this.

We believe that the task of saving its citizens from the cancer scourge remains essentially with government which must provide both the basic facilities to combat the disease and to create the enabling environment that can facilitate the collaboration of the private sector in tackling the menace. Increased awareness campaigns, improvements in public health and increased funding for health care initiatives – by government, donor agencies, and development partners – are all likely to lead to a decrease in incidents of this killer disease. Nigerians themselves must also begin to imbibe the culture of regular medical check-ups so they can commence treatment of any diagnosed ailment promptly before it gets too late.