LAGOS – A consultant radiologist, Prof. Millicent Obajimi, on Wednesday raised alarm over the increasing rate of breast cancer in the country and the absence of adequate measures to tackle the rise.
Obajimi, who works with the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The radiologist, therefore, urged stakeholders to ensure better care for cancer patients to increase survival rate of the disease.
“Breast cancer incidence is increasing and not much is being done to match that increase.
“One thing about breast cancer is that it has also been found to be a heterogeneous and different disease.
“Breast cancer in the African woman is different from the breast cancer in the white woman, and the whites have been doing a lot of work, research and a lot of programmes to combat it.
“But, we are depending on their outcome of research, their own drug, which may not be totally agreeable to the black woman.
“Because the tendency all over the world now is personalised medicine – looking at the biology and trying to develop a particular drug in respect of that biology to help in care.
“And, that is usually more effective than just giving a drug across board for everybody known to have breast cancer, which no longer works all over the world.”
The radiologist said that lack of easy access to breast cancer care and treatment by rural women, had contributed to increase the burden of the disease.
She said, “the burden continues to increase; even the infrastructure in the urban area is not well distributed.
“You may have a mammogram sitting in a place where there are no technocrats to use them, and when you have technocrats to use them, the mammograms are not there.
“So, it is lopsided. The populace, they really do not have much knowledge. Of course, there is poor information on breast cancer itself, so we need to do a lot more.
“We are trying and someday we will get there.
“We only need more advocacy; then an early detection mechanism available on ground must be affordable.
“We cannot be crying about early detection and it is astronomically high, very expensive. It will not be accessible to women.”
Every October is the Global Breast Cancer Awareness Month recognised by the World Health Organisation to help increase awareness of the disease. (NAN)