Cancer: a major health challenge in Nigeria, says UNIZIK VC (Paradise News)

“He said, in many countries, Cancer is a major health challenge confronting Nigeria as it draws a lot in terms of resources for management and research.”

He expressed the belief that the campaign will guide both the OCI foundation, teachers and their pupils as well as parents in their advocacy and other support activities.

In his welcome address, the Founder and President of OCI Foundation, Assoc. Prof. Chris Ifediora, the convener, said the awareness campaign was the fruit of a long standing commitment to prevent cancer, especially among  young women in the society.

According to him, “This is a programme that, in our humble but strong view, will equip our young women and men with the know-hows on how to curtail the risks of breast and cervical Cancers across communities in Nigeria”.

He said, the advocated program, which is to include the anti-cancer teachings into the regular curriculum across all senior secondary schools in Nigeria, which has commence in Anambra state, was  endorsed by Harvard Medical School, USA.

He noted that the OCI foundation programme has reached thousands of women with its empowerment and educational programmes in line with the Australia Declaration on Cancer Prevention, which recognized poverty and lack of education as some of the contributing factors to the rising incidence and prevalence of cancer disease.

He lamented the thousands of lives lost to cancer every year, with most coming from the developing world and stressed the need to protect the health of the citizenry for the stimulation of social and economic development. He said cancer is the second highest cause of maternal mortality, affecting mostly women who only require information to prevent themselves.

Prof. Ifediora, said the campaign/workshop was a sign of a common commitment to fight cancer, especially among School Principals in Nigeria and urged them to reinforce their role in cancer prevention in their domains by advocating for strong public policy measures.

PARADISE NEWS gathered that ArOY Campaign is the flagship health initiative of the OCI Foundation designed to be a wide-reaching, sustainable and cost-effective way of spreading anti-breast and anti-cervical cancer messages to millions of at-risk Nigerian women in a way that is timely, efficient and culturally-acceptable.