C’River recorded 1,459 cancer cases in five years –Report

From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar

The Calabar Cancer Registry has disclosed that at least 1459 cancer cases have been recorded in the State between 2018 to 2012. Director, Calabar Cancer Registry, Prof. Ima-Obong Ekanem disclosed this while presenting a report on five years cancer incidence in the state during a two- day capacity workshop for Cancer Registrars in Nigeria.

The workshop was organised by the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) in collaboration with Linkwell Dynamic Concept, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar.

The report, which covers Calabar Municipality, Calabar South and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas of the state, indicated that out of the 1459 cancer cases, 475 representing 36.6 per cent were males while 984 representing 67.4 per cent were females.

A further review of the report shows that in men, prostate cancer is the leading cancer with 149 new cases 33.4 per cent of the total male cases while breast cancer is the leading cancer in women with 397 new cases representing 40.3 per cent.

Ekanem said it’s very important to know this because without data, you cannot have the policy to control or prevent it.

“Public education campaigns are vital now and in the future to mitigate increase. For detection programmes to be effective, a strong healthcare system must be in place to provide equity of access to diagnosis, treatment and palliative care for cancer patients,” Ekanem said.

She added that cancer is not a death sentence and people should know the warning signs of cancer, risky lifestyle to be avoided and also embark on an annual medical examination.

Speaking while declaring the training open, the Director General, NICRAT, Prof. Usman Aliyu, disclosed that the training was targeted at enhancing the capacity of the Calabar Cancer Registry in order to improve the quality, accuracy of data.

Represented by a Research Officer and Cancer Registrar at the Nigerian Oncology Research Alliance (NORA) and African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN), Bashir Mustapha, the director general charged participants at the training to take advantage of the capacity building to improve their knowledge on how to gather reliable cancer data for decision making in Nigeria.