Nigeria risks leaving some of its poorest people out of cancer care, the President/ CEO of the Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS), Prof. Abidemi Omonisi, warned in a brief interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.
“We must get to the rural community,” said Prof. Abidemi Omonisi, president and CEO of the foundation.
He said many cancer activities happen only in state capitals and that people in internally displaced persons camps are often “completely forgotten.”
Prof. Omonisi said Nigeria now has many cancer registries — “close to 40” — but most lack funding.
“Many of those cancer registries are not funded,” he said, and without money they cannot collect the data needed to plan treatment and services.
“Data is the baseline for getting this thing done,” he added.
He warned that about 30 states do not have up-to-date state cancer control plans.
In some states “there is no treatment center” and “no oncology workforce,” he said, leaving whole regions without care.
Health experts have long called for better funding, local planning and mobile outreach, stating that these are needed so screening and treatment reach farmers, rural families and people living in camps.
Prof. Omonisi urged government and partners to move beyond capital-city events and take services — screening, diagnosis and care — to communities that cannot travel for help.
