Niger Governor’s wife advocates routine screening to fight cancer

The Wife of Niger State Governor, Dr Amina Bello, has called on Nigerians to go for regular screening for cancer to stem the increasing rate of deaths by the disease.

She said that early detection and prevention of the scourge was the only way to fight it.

Bello, who is founder of Raise Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation engaged in health and girl-child education, stated this on Saturday in Minna during a “Walk for Cancer Awareness’’.

She described cancer as one of the leading causes of death globally, and announced that the foundation had opened screening centres in the three senatorial districts in the state.

She said that the step was to help in early detection and prevention of the dreaded disease and tame it.

According to the governor’s wife, the essence of the awareness walk is to alert people about cancer and how it can be prevented.

“The five kilometres walk which will be sustained is the best for everyone.

“I tell you this, before some people come to the hospital, they are already looking sickly such that it will be difficult to perform any surgical operation on them.

“Early detection is the best and so, everyone must go for cancer screening,” she said.

She identified aging as one of the fundamental factors for the development of cancer, in addition to cancer-causing behaviours. ‎

Bello singled out tobacco smoking as the greatest avoidable factor for cancer mortality worldwide, saying it accounted for an estimated 22 per cent of all cancer deaths across the globe, annually.

She suggested among other things, the elimination of tobacco smoking, which accounted for about 70 per cent of all lung cancer, as one of the best prevention strategies for the ailment.‎

She also advocated quitting unhealthy lifestyle, reduction or elimination of alcohol to prevent the life threatening disease.

Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal ‎University of Technology, Minna, ‎Prof. Musbau Akanji, said the exercise as timely.

Akanji pledged that the university would partner with the foundation to achieve its objectives.

‎He disclosed that the university had lost some of its staff to the dreaded disease in recent time.