The many pains of cancer patients in Nigeria
•Photo: How cancer attacks the lungs
Experts are concerned that the prevalence and incidence of cancers among Nigerians is on the sharp rise. This is seen in the frequent cases of Breast, Cervix, Prostate, Colorectal among others cancers that have become regular in Nigerians hospitals.
Putting a picture to this, Consultant Radiotherapist and Oncologist from the Radiotherapy Department of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (Luth) Idi-Araba, Lagos, Dr. M. Y. M. Habeebu, said although the exact prevalence cancer in Nigeria is unknown because of lack of accurate statistics and under-reporting, results obtained from past and recent studies have a stealth rise in the cases of various kinds of cancers among Nigerians.
A new trend is the rising incidence among children, as Habeebu disclosed that about 50 per cent of patients seeking medical attention in many general hospitals in Nigeria are children and majority of them suffer from preventable diseases.
Citing the result of an earlier study from the Ibadan Cancer Registry, Habeebu said, “In 1960-69, Edington and MacLean reported higher rates of cancer in females with Age Standardised Rates (ASR) of 105.1 and 78 per 100,000 in females and males respectively.”
In Zaria, 1976-78 data reported 1575 cases with 52 per cent of those in females and 48 per cent in males with latter study showing that there are more cancers in females than males.
However, current data (2001-2005) from Ibadan showed increasing incidence and the ASR for all cancers as 81.6 per 100,000 for males and 115.1 per100,000 for females with 65.9 per cent and 34.1 per cent in females and males respectively.
From Kano, of 1001 cancers recorded for period 1995-2004, male cancers accounted for 50.3 per cent and 49.7 per cent in females10.
Another report from University of Benin Teaching Hospital showed that about 2258 cases of cancers were seen over a 20 year period with female cancers predominating (accounting for about 64 per cent), while similar report from Calabar showed a total of 588 cancers between 2004-2006 with 50.9 per cent and 49.1 per cent respectively for males and females.
In a presentation delivered at the Eight West Africa Conference and Exhibition (WAH 2012) held in Lagos, Habeebu said, “Data from various parts of the country show that cancer incidence is increasing with female cancers leading.”
According to him, a changing pattern has also been noticed from all the regions of the country, attributing the increasing incidence to poor awareness about the risk factors and changes in lifestyle.
He also disclosed cancer is the most dreaded non-communicable disease in developing countries, stating a World Health Organisation (WHO) report which showed that about 24.6 million people are currently living with cancer worldwide.
Although the internal pains bore by cancer patients are similar across the world, there are additional reasons for those with the disease in Nigeria to be more pained.
For one, there are inadequate diagnostic facilities just as access to care is highly limited. There are 11 cancer registries in Nigeria, located in various tertiary hospitals in various parts of the country. These are found in the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu and the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin.
The other registries are found in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi .
Experts are, however, concerned that the various facilities for cancer treatment are management do not have adequate technical manpower and infrastructure.
President , Cancer Survivor and Advocate, Mrs O.Oyegbile, said cancer patients in Nigeria are almost left to their own fate due to various factors.
“Sometimes patients travel from the North of Nigeria to the South then to the West just to get treatment, yet they hardly get the desired succour,” Oyegbile said.
“Machine breakdown is a common problem, treatment is unaffordable for cancer patients. Some patients are diagnosed but do not receive treatment because of cost of care,” Oyegbile lamented.
Using breast Cancer treatment as reference, she said the treatment is too expensive.
For investigations including, Breast scan, Mammogram, Biopsy and other tests, an individual must spend an average of N67,000.
At the treatment level, an average surgery costs N50,000- N150,000, while chemotherapy is within the cost range of N90,000-N500,000. The minimum cost of radiotherapy in Nigeria is N100, 000m, while anti estrogen treatment is about N2,500-18,000 per month, for which the patient is supposed to be on for five years.
Targeted therapy in Nigeria cost as much as N5 million naira, putting more financial pains on cancer patients and their caregivers.
Oyegbile has some suggestions on how to make things easy on the patients.
She said, “An aggressive campaign of existing cancer services should be put in place, so that patients can start going to the right hospitals early enough.”
According to her, “Nigerian women are surviving breast cancer. But more can if provided with additional and appropriate information and support at the time of diagnosis.”
She said Nigerian women need affordable and accessible screening and treatment services , adding that “We need Health insurance to cover some bills if not all.”
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