Cancer,the world’s number one killer disease.

Cancer is the world’s number one killer disease. One third of the world’s 7.3 billion people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) predicts that the worldwide burden of cancer is set to double over the next five years, and that over the next 15 years, one in every two persons will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. It is the most expensive disorder to treat i n the short-term, and also the most expensive long-term sickness.

Every year, over the last decade, the economic toll of cancer has cost an estimated US$1 trillion – about 1.5 percent of the world’s annual GDP.

In Nigeria, this chronic illness with often severe effects is a potential death sentence. There is hardly anybody who doesn’t know somebody who has either died of, or is suffering from it. Currently, 100,000 new cases are reported every year with very few having access to treatment because there are just a few functional cancer centres in the country.

The World Health Organisation statistics on the cancer situation in Nigeria reveals that more than two million Nigerians have some form of invasive cancer, an estimated 100,000 are diagnosed annually, of which at least 80,000 die, making cancer one of the nation’s highest causes of death. This is equivalent to 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour, dying from cancer.

Apart from the prohibitive cost of cancer treatment, most patients present themselves late at the hospital, when little or nothing can be done to help them. The death of many high profile figures from cancer should be a wake-up call for government to be more committed to addressing the rising incidence and cost of cancer in Nigeria. To combat the menace, an intensive community-based mass cervical cancer screening campaign is desirable.

Nigerians cannot afford the cost of cancer care. When it strikes, even the rich become beggars. Cancer management must be recognised as team work and government must take the lead. Cancer control must be centrally coordinated and the Federal Ministry of Health must take up that role. Government should admit that cancer is now an issue of primary health concern and a major cause of premature death of Nigerians irrespective of age, sex, or social class. They should take the bull by the horn by equipping public hospitals and medical centres with effective diagnostic capability to quickly detect and treat cancer infections.

The Federal government should recognise the urgent need for the institution of a policy for mandatory free annual screening checks at local, state and national levels and put in place long-overdue comprehensive world class centres for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.