By Ibrahim Ramalan
Cancer is a global epidemic, that is particularly worse in Africa, as resources are inadequate and the health system is too weak to manage the disease.
However, the first lady of Kebbi State, Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, with her team at the Medicaid Cancer Foundation, seemed to be going beyond passive awareness and proactive prevention, as she is vigorously leading the fight against cancer.
This effort of hers, was boldly exhibited at the grand finale of this year’s cancer awareness event in Abuja, where she hosted many prominent personalities across the country for a 10 kilometres walk, tagged ‘Walk Away Cancer.’
The event which was aimed at drawing draw attention to cancer pandemic, had in attendance some wives of governors and other prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs), sport-stars, business men, politicians and entertainment industry players.
Briefing newsmen after the walk, the Kebbi first lady pointed out that cancer is an abnormal and uncontrolled growth of any cell in the body.
“Any cell in the body that is capable of growth is capable of having cancer. The only exempted ones teeth, hairs and nails, which are dead tissues.
“Any living cell is capable of becoming cancerous; which means, there could be cancer of the mouth, tongue, lungs any organ in the body, you name it.
“cancer of the breast is one of the cancers that you can do something about if detected early. The incident is increasing because we tend to do things that other societies do that cause cancer.
“The lifestyle we are adopting now is also another reason for the increase in breast cancer. Women are smoking and drinking more, they exercise less, so all these things are affecting us. Our doctors are also more aware, and they are picking it up earlier. In particular, the month of October is the international breast cancer month, so that is why we emphasise on breast cancer,” she explained.
When asked about the anatomy of breast cancer, the first lady informed that, generally, it is a cancer of the breast tissue, although there are various kinds.
“If you have breast tissue then one can get breast cancer, whether male or female, although obviously it is more common in females. Breast cancer itself is usually detected by a lump but this doesn’t mean that all lumps are cancerous.
“Young girls have a tendency to develop what you call fibroidadenomas, it’s not cancerous, it’s just a lump of fibrous tissue, which does not always have to be removed once it has been checked.
“One of the programs we run in Kebbi, is teaching young girls in schools about cancer signs and symptoms and other vital health issues like sickle cell, which early intervention and awareness will help reduce the burden of,” she emphasized.
Dr. Bagudu therefore advised women to examine their breasts every month after their menstrual period, and to seek immediate medical advice if anything abnormality is found.
She said, ”African Women above 40 years are advised to start having mammograms. A mammogram is simply an x-ray of the breast tissue which can pick up changes the finger examination might miss.”
Talking about causes of the deadly pandemic, Bagudu said that age, lifestyle and heredity are some major reasons, adding that menopausal older women are more prone to it.
She further said: “Also, the less you breast-feed or the fewer children you have, the more prone you are to it; which is why women in northern Nigeria don’t seem to have much of it, because they have more children and breast-feed for a longer period.
“Alcohol consumption and diet is another reason for cancer. There are more processed foods in our society today, which not a very good protection against cancer,” She confirmed.
However, the first lady regretted how the resources required for fighting the disease and the prevalence rate are increasing, adding that only 3 of the 12 cancer centres in the country function with reasonable accuracy.
Blueprint can report that at the just concluded stakeholders’ forum for cancer awareness in Kebbi state, poor awareness and data are vital issues that propelled the conference. According to professionals and resource persons at the forum, so far, Nigeria is yet to have accurate statistics of the victims. Thus, the MCF is leading the path to start accurate and quality data collection in the 3 states of Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi.
