NICRAT partners NPHCDA on integration of cancer in primary healthcare

The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) has called on the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to partner with it towards integrating cancer prevention and diagnosis at the primary health care level.

The Director General of NICRAT, Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, made the call when he visited the NPHCDA Director General, Dr Muyi Aina, at his office in Abuja.

“We also want you to support the inclusion of cancers as part of the integrated disease surveillance system of the country.  We can see the possibility of integrating cancer as disease surveillance in the system that is already existing,”  Prof. Malami said in a statement from NICRAT.

He called on the NPHCDA to also partner with it on a national cervical cancer screening programme as a follow-up to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme rolled out by the federal government in October.

The NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr Muyi Aina, commended the NICRAT Director General for the initiatives, noting that there are a lot of opportunities for collaboration between the two agencies.