The wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Bisi Fayemi, has advocated accelerated efforts for the elimination of cervical cancer in the country.
The governor’s wife, who said that cancer remained one of the commonest killers of women in Nigeria, said statistics revealed that over 7,000 females were killed in 2020, with more than 12,000 new cases recorded.
She spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Thursday during a town hall meeting with the theme, ‘Human Papilloma Virus vaccination: Key to cervical cancer prevention’ organised by ‘First Lady Against Cancer’, to raise awareness on the increasing indices of cervical cancer among women in Ekiti State and the nation at large as part of activities to mark the 2021 World Cancer Day.
The governor’s wife said, “Cervical Cancer is preventable with HPV vaccination. Early detection saves lives. We commend the renewed commitment of all cervical cancer advocates in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health, international and indigenous partners to deliver on the stated objectives of this strategy by 2030.
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“Our vaccine access programme will catalyze access to HPV vaccine for families that can afford out of pocket payment in the immediate term and at the same time, advocating for the inclusion of HPV vaccine into routine immunization to cater for those that can’t afford out of pocket payment,” Fayemi said.
She said, “In Nigeria, cervical cancer is the third commonest form of cancer and second commonest among women. It accounted for 9.7 per cent of all malignancies in 2020, recording an estimated 12,075 new cases and 7,968 deaths annually”.
Ekiti State Commissioner for Health, Dr Oyebanji Filani, who said cancer death was preventable if detected and treated early enough, said that the state government had taken steps to prevent deaths through the disease.
Filani said, “We have a state cancer policy that deals with the elimination of the disease. We have our special funding for cancer in the 2022 budget. We also have a register to know the number of those who have cancer in Ekiti. I want to encourage you to be advocates of cancer. Let us subject ourselves to relevant screening and also encourage others to do same”.
