COMBATING CANCER IS
FIGHT FOR ALL- TOKBISH YOHANNA
Plateau State Coordinator of CiSCANEN Tokbish, Yohanna Mizak has
made a special
Passionate appeal to the need for everybody to key into the
fight against Cancer, saying Cancer kills more than HIV, Malaria, and
tuberculosis. He stated this commemorates world cancer day, which is celebrated
annually every 4th of February.
He said, ‘we need your help, whether you do something as large as
running your own World Cancer Day campaign, or as simple as sharing our
template messages amongst your media networks and organizations, every action
has an impact. Show the world that we can, I can get involved in the fight
against cancer.
Tokbish further ‘We appreciate that everyone supporting the Day
has different needs and priorities, so there are a wide variety of ways to get
involved and to also take advantage of the numerous vegetables and fruits we
have on the Plateau: cabbage, carrots, fresh tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper,
mangoes, etc., which serves as diets for cancer patients
He presented a document to commemorate the world cancer day
2022. WORLD CANCER DAY WITH THE THEME: “CLOSE THE CARE GAB”
CANCER KILLS MORE THAN HIV, MALARIA & TUBERCULOSIS, EARLY
DETECTION & TIMELY TREATMENT SAVES LIVES
In 2022, the global cancer community commemorates World Cancer
Day on Feb’4th with the slogan ‘Close
The Care Gab”. All the
hundreds of activities organized on World Cancer Day happen in almost every
corner of the globe. World Cancer Day has become the most amplified and
impactful global platform for all cancer patients and advocates - a platform
where we can all make noise, lots of noise, reminding all that we can win the
war on cancer.
Scientific update has it that “Cancer” is one of the leading
causes of death globally. The cancer scenario in Nigeria reveals that about
500,000 new cases are diagnosed every year and that it kills over 250,000
people annually in Nigeria. It is further said that Cancer kills more people
than HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria (ATM) combined (WHO 2006a, 2006b). However,
medical experts have continuously advocated; early detection, regular
awareness, timely screening, vaccination, and treatment as major interventions
against the disease.
The “Civil Society for CANCER Eradication in Nigeria (CiSCANEN)”
and other key stakeholders in the response to cancer in the state commensurate
on the day and urge everyone, collectively and individuals to join this
campaign to commit to strengthened activities for quality, including screening,
early detection, treatment, and palliative care.
The primary goal of World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce
illness and death caused by cancer and is an opportunity to rally the
international community to end the injustice of preventable suffering from
cancer.
Cancer is the second most frequent cause of morbidity and
mortality in the Americas, after cardiovascular disease, and an important basis
of health inequalities.
In the Americas there are an estimated 4 million people were newly
diagnosed and 1.4 million people died from the disease in 2020. Approximately,
57% of new cancer cases and 47% of cancer deaths occurred in people 69 years of
age and younger, in the prime of their lives.
Future trends
Globally, there were an estimated 20 million new cases of cancer
and 10 million deaths from cancer. The cancer burden will increase by
approximately 60% over the next two decades, further straining health systems,
people, and communities. The predicted global burden will increase to about 30
million new cancer cases by 2040, with the greatest increases occurring in low-
and middle-income countries.
In the Americas region, the number of people expected to be
diagnosed with cancer will increase by 55%, to approximately 6.23 million
people are predicted to be diagnosed with cancer by 2040, if no further action
is taken to prevent and control cancer
Can Cancer be prevented and controlled?
Cancer can be prevented and controlled by implementing
evidence-based strategies for cancer prevention, screening, early detection,
treatment, and palliative care. The most common modifiable risk factors for
cancer, which are shared with many other non-communicable diseases, are:
- Tobacco use
- Low fruit and vegetable intake
- Harmful use of alcohol
- Lack of physical activity
Some specific risk factors for cancer include chronic infections
from the human papillomavirus (HPV) -for cervical cancer-, hepatitis B and C -
liver cancer-, and H.pylori -stomach cancer.
One-third to one-half of cancer cases could be prevented by
reducing the prevalence of known risk factors. Examples of actionable
interventions are tobacco control and HPV vaccination. The most effective primary
prevention of cancer is based on whole-of-government approaches, with
legislation, regulation, and fiscal policies combined with activities to change
community and individual behavior. Public health messages and health promotion
should present evidence on specific risk factors.
Aiming to tackle the cancer burden at a global level, the World
Health Organization has launched three global campaigns:
Despite being a largely preventable and treatable disease,
cervical cancer is an important public health problem, affecting mostly young
and socioeconomically deprived women in developing countries. In the Americas
region alone, the age-standardized incidence in 2020 varied between 5 new cases
per 100,000 women in Canada and 36 cases per 100,000 women in Bolivia.
Similarly, mortality rates ranged from 2 deaths per 100,000 women in Canada and
19 deaths per 100,000 in Paraguay.
To tackle this important determinant of gender and socioeconomic
inequalities, on November 17th, 2020, the World Health Organization launched
the Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a public
health problem, with the target of elimination set to a threshold of 4 or fewer
new cases per 100 000 women by 2030. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to
improve access and use of tools that are already known to be effective: HPV
vaccination, cervical screening, and treatment.
The targets consist of:
90% of girls fully vaccinated with HPV vaccine by age 15 years;
70% of women are screened with a high-performance test (e.g.,
HPV test) by 35 years of age and again by 45 years of age; and
90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment
Given the great inequalities in childhood cancer survival between and within
regions, ranging from 45% in Central America and the Caribbean to over 80% in
North America, the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer was launched in
September 2018 aiming to increase 5-year survival from childhood cancer to at
least 60% by 2030. The Initiative has two primary objectives:
1.
Increase prioritization of
childhood cancer at the global and national levels and
2.
Increase the capacity of
countries to provide quality information and services for children with cancer.
In March 2021, the World Health Organization introduced the
Global Breast Cancer Initiative, aiming to reduce the burden of breast cancer,
the most frequent cancer in women globally and the Americas region. The
initiative aims to reduce global breast cancer mortality by 2.5% per year, thus
averting an estimated 2.5 million deaths by 2040. In 2020 there were nearly
500,000 new breast cancer cases and over 100,000 breast cancer deaths in the
Americas. If successful, nearly 480,000 breast cancer deaths would be averted
in the Americas region alone during the 20 years. Activities for the initiative
will focus on three pillars:
1.
Health promotion,
2.
Timely diagnosis, and
3.
Comprehensive treatment
including supportive care
JOURNEY SO FAR FOR CiSCANEN PLATEAU STATE SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN
2016.
Capacity building:
The Civil Society for Cancer Eradication in Nigeria (CiSCANEN),
Plateau State chapter have been able to organized a one-day capacity building
to a total of 224 (122
Male, 102 Female) members
on basic facts of cancer and demand creation on cancer education and 480 (male-390 and
female- 90) members of the National Association of Nigerian
Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP), Plateau State Chapter sharing experience on
the medical aspect of cancer treatment and care.
Sensitization:
A total of 24,123 (female= 15,264 and
male 8,859) people (market men & women, NANTMP members,
students, workplaces, and the general public) in Plateau have been reached
since 2016.
Screening and Examination:
The following screening and examinations took place as follows:
1.
Breast examination= 1034, 34 of them had suspected cases of breast lumps, 24 had nipple discharge while 2 had pains around their breast areas which were
among Students of the tertiary institutions (University of Jos, Plateau State
Polytechnic Jos Campus and School of Health Technology Zawan) and those from
the Secondary schools (GSS Gwong, GSS Chuwyalnyap, GSS Hwoleshe, Airforce Girls
Comprehensive College Jos, Muslim Secondary School Jos and Command Day
Secondary School Rukuba Barracks, Bassa.
2.
Cervical Cancer: A total of 145 women had their Pap smear collected to run the
test,7 were positive, 10 were to repeat the test as their results did not come
out clear. Also, 95 women were screened for Cervical Cancer using
the Vaginal Inspectorate Acidic Acid “VIA” where 5 of them had a suspicion of the disease.
1.
Prostate Cancer: A total of 150 men ages above 40+ went through the test, only 28 tested positive.
The event which was mostly supported in Plateau state by the
wife of the Plateau State Governor, Her Excellency, Mrs. Regina S.B. Lalong
through Her SWITCH Foundation, her PET Project in 2017 and 2018 suffers a
serious seek back the year as CiSCANEN was unable to lay its hands on any
support elsewhere which necessitated us passing the information through this
medium.
In conclusion, Every
Action Counts as World
Cancer Day is a truly global event. To achieve our objective of reaching as
much of the world’s population as possible, we need your help whether you do
something as large as running your own World Cancer Day campaign, or as simple
as sharing our template messages amongst your media networks and organizations,
every action has an impact. Show the world that we can, I can get involved in
the fight against cancer.
We appreciate that everyone supporting the Day has different
needs and priorities, so there are a wide variety of ways to get involved and
to also take advantage of the numerous vegetables and fruits we have on the
Plateau: cabbage, carrots, fresh tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper,mangoes etc
which serves as diets for cancer patients.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Mr.Tokbish, Yohanna Mizak
State Coordinator,
CiSCANEN, Plateau State.
tokbishy@gmail.com
08036788777,08104390217
