…Group Donates Money To MWAN To Screen Indigent Women
Eminent Sisters Enugu; a charity-based organization comprising of friends and associates, have called on the general public to take cancer awareness more seriously as early detection will help in proper management.
Speaking during their awareness walk in the streets of Enugu, the president of Eminent Sister, Enugu, Lady Christine Miller said “today is our cancer awareness day and we want to enlighten the women on the importance of early detection.
Lady Miller urged the women to “please check yourself because if you are detected early, you can be properly managed because “cancer isn’t a final word.
Also speaking, Ifeoma Okoye, Professor of radiology at the University of Nigeria decried the spate of late cancer detection, stressing that they want to rid Nigeria of late cancer detection, thus, her partnership with Eminent Sisters.
Prof. Okoye who is also the Director, University of Nigeria clinical trial centre revealed that breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer and in Nigeria, it has the most fatality.
Also Known as Pinky Prof, Mrs. Okoye lamented what she described as “it’s not my portion syndrome” which is as a result of fear of the word cancer and it makes them live in denial.
“What we are doing today is to raise awareness so that women can know what they can proactively do to enable themselves reduce the risk of breast cancer because 1 out of 8 women are at risk of breast cancer.
Speaking further on the need for adequate awareness, she said “Nigeria has the highest mortality and morbidity of cancer in the world because of her population and lack of infrastructure that will proper management. Also, we have not started operating our cancer control guidelines, everything we are doing in terms of screening is epileptic and nobody is offering you screening at the point of care.”
Prof. Okoye also advocated for increased awareness in the rural communities for women to be though how they can examine themselves and reduce their coming at late stages when the mortality and morbidity is higher. They also need to be thought the preventive measures for all cancers and non-communicable diseases.
In her remarks, the chairlady of the awareness walk, Barr. Margaret Nwagbo said they decided to organize the event because women are under attack by cancer and they’re not aware of how to prevent, protect or report to.
Barr. Nwagbo urged the women to always report to the nearest centre if they notice anything unusual and not believe that religion or cultural practice will stop the growth of cancer.
The highpoints of the walk were a demonstration on how to examine yourself for breast cancer and a cash donation eighty thousand naira (#80,000) to Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN).
Commenting on the gesture the president of MWAN Enugu Chapter, Dr. Ijeoma Obianyor, said the donation will be used for the screening of 10 indigent women in their centre which is located at number 29 Abakiliki road, GRA, Enugu.
