Mass Medical Mission, a non-profit organisation under its National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP), has launched a free family health outreach programme for cancer screening and treatment in the 20 local governments and 36 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).
The health programme which would cover the whole country was kick-started in Lagos to commemorate the World Cancer Day.
Already, the screening would be conducted nationwide under the old geographical divisions covering the Northern, Western, Eastern and Mid-West regions with four mobile clinics established for the purpose.
One of the facilitators for the medical mission, Dr. Abia Nzelu said the cancer prevention programme was established to tackle “unnecessary deaths” from cancer.
Nzelu who is the Executive Secretary of Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, disclosed that many Nigerians have died of cancer due to absence of infrastructure for screening and early detection.
She said 100 people die of cancer in Nigeria every hour, adding that out of every five cancer patients, only one has the chance of survival.
She said the whole of Lagos has been mapped out for the pilot programme which would go from wards to wards and local governments in the state.
The screening covers prostate cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, as well as diabetes, blood pressure, eye screening, among others.
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