NEWS (The Sun) – World Cancer Day: Tech innovations like CerviBreast are arming individuals to save women, combat cancer – Ifediora, Family Medicine professor (9/2/25)

Courtesy: The Sun News

February 9, 2025 – by Enyeribe Ejiogu

Link to Original Story: World Cancer Day: Tech innovations like CerviBreast are arming individuals to save women, combat cancer – Ifediora, Family Medicine professor.

By Enyeribe Ejiogu

Thirty-five years have passed since Mrs Esther Agajuchukwu died from breast cancer, after the birth of her four children. Her first child and only daughter was eight years at the time she died. By now, if she was alive, Mrs Agajuchukwu would have become a grandmother and experiencing the joy of going for omugwo, babysitting and playing with her grandchildren, whether in Nigeria or overseas.

Now pan to Warri, Delta State, one of Nigeria’s oil-producing states, where the residents like to boast in local parlance, “Warri no dey carry last,” and zoom in on the popular and beautified Enerhen Junction, where 70-year-old Mrs Collete Njoku, runs a sizable shop since retiring as a senior teacher from the Delta State Civil Service and now savouring the joy of surviving breast cancer, which was discovered in 2005.

Unlike in the case of Agajuchukwu, where a combination of ignorance and mis-handling allowed the condition to substantially degenerate before medical intervention was initiated too late, Mrs Njoku was fortunate. When she first noticed what felt like a lump, she came to Lagos, where her younger brother, a health journalist, arranged for her to see a consultant oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, Lagos, where expert physical examination strengthened the earlier suspicion about the lump. She was advised to undergo a mastectomy – a surgical process to remove all breast tissue from a breast. The surgery is most often done to treat or prevent breast cancer. In addition to removing the breast tissue, mastectomy also may remove the breast skin and nipple. She was also told that after the surgery, she would for life be wearing breast prosthesis (an artificial breast shape that sits inside the bra to the radical nature of the surgery disturbed her, and she requested for time to discuss the development with her husband. She returned to Warri. With the encouragement of her husband, the surgery was done successfully in a very good hospital in the oil city. Subsequently, she was put on appropriate chemotherapy and psychological counselling to adjust to life without breasts. In the course of time, regular evaluation by her doctor showed no sign of the cancer.

Looking back, Mrs Njoku is happy and thankful for every new day. Both women had encounters with cancer at a time when awareness about breast and cervical cancers, the two major cancers that kill women, was not common.

Generally, cancers have killed millions of people around the world, costing trillions in healthcare costs, inflicting agony and unimaginable psychological pain on people who close relations to the scourge. To create a focus on awareness and sustainable common sense solutions, February 4 of every year was designated as World Cancer Day, annually re-energise the universal battle against cancer diseases.

Statistical evidence shows that in 2022 about 20 million new cases of cancer were recorded globally, leading to 9.7 deaths. In the same year, Africa recorded over 900,000 new cases and over 580,000 deaths. In Nigeria, also in 2022, there were about 127,763 new cases and 79,542 deaths. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that cancer kills 240 Nigerians daily. If urgent step are not taken, these figures would rise significantly. It is worthy of note that female breast cancer kills 2.3 million women annually.

Brain drain in Nigeria is denying hundreds of thousands of women access to cancer care. As of today, Nigeria has less than 80 oncologists, for a nation with more than 200 million people. Sadly, the country has a ratio of one radiation oncologist to nearly 2,000 patients when the ideal situation should be one radiation oncologist to between 250 and 500 patients.

Early detection and treatment are critical for effective management of cervical and breast cancers just like other cancers. Regular screening and vaccination can help prevent cervical cancer. For this reason, OCI Foundation International, which is passionate about combatting the scourge of cancer, has deployed athree-pronged approach, which is combination of technology, broad-based human capital and massive funding to create and deepen awareness about breast and cervical cancers.

In terms of technology, it sponsored the development of the Cervi-Breast App, which is a digital health tool designed for women’s health, specifically focusing on cervical and breast health.

It has collaboration with the National Youth Service Corps, which allows corps members serving in states to volunteer to create awareness in communities where they are carrying out their primary assignment, by teaching people basic things about the symptoms of the two diseases and what to do.

The foundation also sponsors the Arm our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign designed to introduce breast and cervical cancer preventive campaigns into the academic curricula of all high schools across Nigeria.

As part of that effort, corps members encourage women, and men too, to learn about the Cervi-Breast app, a technological innovation, which OCI developed and funded and then released, free of charge, on Google Playstore for anybody in Nigeria to download and use, either on the Android or Apple smartphone.

In a Whatsapp interaction, Prof Onyebuchi Chris Ifediora, a professor of Family Medicine at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, explained some of the key features of the app. “The Cervi-Breast app has the following key features: right on the landing page it has two buttons that will remind the woman (or even her husband) about the monthly breast self-examination (BSE) and the biennial cervical cancer screening.

For cervical cancer, the app sends reminders for regular Pap tests and HPV screenings. It provides educational content on cervical cancer, HPV, and cervical health and offers a risk assessment tool to help women understand their cervical cancer risk.

“On the app, the user will find videos on how to conduct BSE and even book right on the app for a cervical cancer screening exercise under the aegis of the OCI Foundation’s Gynocular Project. What to do is to fill the digital form, which allows the woman get a highly subsidized cervical screening test using a digitalized device called the Gynocular. The OCI Foundation is offering this service to Nigerians as part of its Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Health Campaign, a novel anti-cancer project for Nigerians.

Addition features of the Cervi-Breast include a personalized health dashboard that to track screening history, appointments, and health reminders; the app sends reminders and notifications for screenings, appointments, and health-related events. It may offer additional resources, such as hotlines, support groups, or online communities.

If technological innovations like CerviBreast App had been available about three decades ago and Mrs Agachukwu had utilised the information, perhaps, she would not have died. To prevent avoidable death of Nigerian women from breat or cervical cancers, Ifediora offers this simple advice: “Every woman, young female and man that has a smartphone should download it and use it to educate people around them as part of the human effort to mitigate the impact of breast and cervical cancers.”

Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that occurs in the cervix, which is the lower part of the uterus in the female reproductive system. It typically develops slowly over time, and is often caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).

• HPV infection: The primary cause of cervical cancer is infection with certain types of HPV, which is a common sexually-transmitted infection.

• Weakened immune system: Women with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV/AIDS, are more susceptible to cervical cancer.

• Smoking: Smoking increases the risk of cervical cancer.

• Age: Cervical cancer is more common in women over 30 years old.

Symptoms of cervical cancer include:

• Abnormal vaginal bleeding, which is bleeding which may occur between menstrual periods, particularly after sex, or after the woman has reached menopause.

• Pelvic pain: This kind of pain is noticed in the lower abdomen or pelvis.

• Unusual vaginal discharge, that is change in vaginal discharge, such as increased discharge or a foul odour.

If a woman notices any of these symptoms, she should go to see a doctor, who will take her medical history. To diagnose the disease, the doctor will send the woman for these tests.

• Pap test – a routine screening test that checks for abnormal cell changes in the cervix.

• HPV test which checks for the presence of HPV in cervical cells.

• Colposcopy: A procedure that uses a special microscope to examine the cervix for abnormal cell growth.

• Biopsy: A procedure that removes a small sample of cervical tissue for laboratory testing.

Prevention of cervical cancer

As has been noted, medical scientists have determined that adopting the right steps can prevent cervical cancer. These include vaccination against HPV, regular screening to detect abnormal cell changes before they become cancerous and practicing safe sex, such as using condoms to reduce the risk of HPV infection.