Nigeria ‘recorded over 120,000’ cancer cases in 2020

Dr Adamu Alhassan Umar, President, Nigerian Cancer Society, said an estimated 124,815 new cases of cancer was recorded in Nigeria in 2020.

Speaking at a media engagement organized by the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) in collaboration with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS), to mark this year’s World Cancer Day, Umar said of this figure, there were 78,899 cancer-related deaths.

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He said there was an urgent need for government and all stakeholders to increase efforts towards improving cancer diagnosis, prevention, treatment and care.

Umar said ensuring that every cancer patient had access to standard care without undue catastrophic impact on the family finances is one of the cardinal goals of the society.

“The five-year survival of cancer in Nigeria is abysmally low because of multiple factors including but not limited to; late presentation, lack of awareness, weak health infrastructure, poverty and high cost of cancer care with associated catastrophic impact on family finances,” he said.

Other experts at the programme asked the federal government to come up with an effective funding mechanism that would ensure proper utisilisation of the N1billion budgeted for cancer prevention and control in the country.

The sum is the total amount appropriated for cancer in the 2020 and 2021 budgets. The sum of N729, 861,797 million was budgeted in 2020 and N294, 081,336 million in the 2021budget.

Coordinator of the Africa Health Budget Network, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba, said till date there is no clear financing mechanism on how the cancer fund would be spent despite the fact that the budget cycle for 2020 will end soon.

He said, “The major challenge is not allocation of funds but how to utilise, spend and have the financing mechanism on engaging different government agencies to utilise the resources.

“A lot of meetings have been ongoing, so many committees have been set up but there is no clear pathway or agreement on how this over N1 billion can be spent for the sake of the cancer patient to ensure this money does not go back to the government’s account.”

He also called for accountability and transparency in the committees set up on the fund, adding: “People are dying from this disease and we cannot sit by and watch. We want the ministry to do the right thing.”

Chairman , House Committee on Healthcare Services, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, said the national assembly created a budget line for cancer in 2019 , and would ensure it is maintained.

He promised that the national assembly would provide adequate oversight to ensure proper utilization of the money.

Representative of the Coordinator of the Cancer Control Programme of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Deborah Bitrus, said the cancer fund is meant for the treatment of cervical, breast and prostate cancers , adding that the ministry was working out modalities for the disbursement of the fund.