David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
In order to curb the rising incidence of breast and cervical cancers among women, a non-governmental organisation in Anambra State, Odu and Gold Igboegwu Trust Fund Centre, recently organised a one-day seminar to equip rural dwellers with information about scourge.
The seminar was organised at Amakwu, Ozubulu, in Ekwusigo Local Government Area. During the event, Dr. (Mrs.) Sally Chikezie from Umuahia, Abia State, and Professor Chinedu Agbodike, based in Nnewi, told more than 200 women from various rural communities what they needed to know about breast and cervical cancers, arthritis and how to manage old age.
Professor Agbodike said it was a lie that cancer was not curable. He noted that early detection of the disease would definitely lead to its immediate cure “and the patient will live a normal life, free of cancerous deposit in their system.”
He described cancer as a global fraud “perpetrated” by the Western world, whom he said would always like developing countries to live in fear of the disease “as if every cancer patient must be written off.” He emphasised that cancer was the simplest sickness to cure.
READ ALSO: Forum demands justice to violence against women in party primaries
“What is important is to know what to eat and what not to eat at any given time. Cure can be derived from a local food called ukpaka. Cancer is caused by lack of vitamin B17, which you can find in ukpaka.
“Cancer is a global fraud and you cannot just come out to say you want to do it; it will come after you. I can, with local herbs, cure any cancer in a couple of months. And you cannot after the treatment have any trace of cancer in your system,” the professor said.
He told the women that cancer was distributed every day through the synthetic foods people eat, unaware of their health implications. He said that some people, out of ignorance put themselves in a sealed place, which they called modern houses, without enough ventilation, except air conditioners. He claimed that such practices expose the inhabitants to cancer.
Professor Agbodike said that people living in the city were more prone to cancer than those in rural areas because people in urban centres are more exposed to synthetic foods and do not have access to enough oxygen like those in rural dwellers.
He warned that those in the cities never have up to 40 to 60 per cent oxygen available to them daily as residential buildings and factories are everywhere impeding nature.
He also identified the heavy use of artificial fertilisers to grow crops and other edible items as one of the fastest
means of spreading cancer in the rural and urban communities, and advised the women to be closer to nature and consume more natural foods, as they were the best approach to avoiding cancer.
“If we continue like this, in a couple of decades, this generation will be wiped out by cancer and other diseases, unless we go back to nature,” he said.
READ ALSO: 836 victims of human trafficking rescued by NAPTIP from Delta State – DG
Chikezie, on her part, told the women that the cancer scourge was prevalent in both developed and developing countries of the world today to the extent that, out of every 20 women, six of them were cancer patients. She also identified early diagnosis as the best approach to cancer treatment.
Apart from medication, she drew their attention to the role faith could play in getting rid of cancer. She also told them about the importance of personal hygiene and natural foods to always remain healthy.
Director of the NGO, Lady Oruche, expressed gratitude to the resource persons whom she said were insightful
in their teaching but regretted that the women who were the target of the programme, could not turn up in their
numbers despite the fact that it was free of charge.