THE recent premature demise of Nigeria’s highly cerebral and accomplished Barrister Oronto Douglas, to stomach cancer at the age of 48 calls for a reflection on the cancer scourge in Nigeria. Over 100,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year in Nigeria and about 240 Nigerians die of cancer every day.
This implies that on the same day that Oronto Douglas died, 240 other Nigerians also died of cancer, unsung but not unloved.
This number excludes so many others who die of cancer in rural areas without ever being diagnosed due to poor diagnostic facilities. The pity is that most of these deaths are preventable, given early detection.
Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the world (after lung and liver cancer), accounting for approximately 723,000 deaths in 2012. It is the third most common digestive cancer in Nigeria (after liver and colon cancer). About 2000 Nigerians die every year of stomach cancer.
Stomach cancer tends to develop slowly over many years. Before a true cancer develops, pre-cancerous changes often occur in the inner lining (mucosa) of the stomach. These early changes rarely cause symptoms and therefore often go undetected.
Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the primary identified cause of gastric cancer. Other risk factors for stomach cancer include older age; male sex; a diet high in salted, smoked, or poorly preserved foods and low in fruits and vegetables; tobacco smoking; being overweight or obese; pernicious anemia; a history of stomach surgery for non-cancerous diseases such as ulcers; some types of stomach polyps (non-cancerous growths on the lining of the stomach), and a family history of stomach cancer among others.
H. pylori is a bacterium that spreads through contaminated food and water and through direct mouth-to-mouth contact. In most populations, it is first acquired during childhood. Infection is more likely in poor children living in crowded conditions, and in areas with poor sanitation.
The risk of stomach cancer could therefore, be significantly reduced by adopting healthy lifestyle choices such as use of refrigeration for food storage rather than preserving foods by salting, pickling, and smoking, intake of fresh fruits and vegetables which contain antioxidants that can block substances that damage a cell’s DNA, avoiding smoking, ensuring a healthy weight and above all, early detection of infection with H. pylori, and treatment of the infection with antibiotics.
For instance, until the late 1930s, stomach cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. However, there has been dramatic decline of stomach cancer in the U.S. in the past several decades due to widespread implementation of the above stated measures.
We can also significantly reduce its incidence in Nigeria through widespread awareness on its preventive measures and by making screening and treatment of H. pylori infection, as well as endoscopic diagnosis of early stomach cancer widely available. These can be achieved through the use of Mobile Cancer Centres (MCC), which is the current goal of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP-Nigeria).
CECP-Nigeria is an initiative co-promoted by six of the core bodies of the Organized Private Sector in Nigeria.
The flagship focal cause of CECP is the “Big War Against Cancer and the Ten Major Cancer-related killer diseases (Diabetes, Renal Disease, Obesity, Malaria, Schistosomiasis, Helicobacter pylori, Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, Human Papillomavirus and Hypertension)”.
The specific goal is to raise funds to acquire and deploy 37 Mobile Cancer Centres (MCC), one for each state and FCT, Abuja. This will take holistic health promotion to the grassroots of Nigeria. Each MCC costs USD 600,000 whilst the operational cost per 100,000 participants is USD 685,000.
This covers cost of screening for cancer and its risk factors as well as for treating pre-cancer and early cancer free-of- charge.
The operational partner of the CECP is the National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP), a non-governmental initiative of mass medical mission (mmm). NCPP is the foremost and major effort towards national cancer control in Nigeria.
NCPP’s sacrificial effort has contributed to a 15% reduction of cervical cancer deaths in Nigeria from 26 women dying daily to 22 daily between 2008 and 2012 (WHO data) thereby, reversing the earlier projection of WHO that cervical cancer death rate would increase by 25% within 10 years, in the absence of widespread intervention.
This success story is a proof that we could win the Big War Against Cancer if we could scale up the present effort using MCC.
To actualise its vision, the CECP is currently involved in a fund-raising campaign, known as the #GivingTide. The #GivingTide is managed by a team made up of some of Nigeria’s trusted and dedicated corporate leaders led by Prof. Pat Utomi. One of the highpoints of the #GivingTide is the National Cancer Week (NCW), an advocacy week on the Big War.
Every year, the NCW starts on the first Sunday in June (marked as International Cancer Survivors’ Day all over the world) and ends on the second Sunday in June. The Anchor of the NCW is Dr. Christopher Kolade, CON.
This year’s National Cancer Week will commence on June 7, 2015. The climax of the Week is on Sunday, June 14, 2015, and will take the form of a Banquet of Stars Against Cancer (The ‘Centurions Conclave’), an exclusive event for Nigeria’s philanthropists who would make transformational donation towards the Big War Against Cancer. This will hold at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Other activities lined up for the NCW include: Sunday, June 7, 2015 (International Cancer Survivors’ Day) – Stars in the Church Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising in Churches); Monday, June 8, 2015 – Rising Stars Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising by Youth & Students); Tuesday, June 9, 2015: Stars in Media Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising by Media/IMC Sector); Wednesday, June 10, 2015- Open Day (DIY day); Thursday, June 11, 2015- Stars at Work Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising in Offices); Friday, June 12, 2015- Stars in the Mosque Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising by Mosques) and Saturday, June 13, 2015- Stars at Play Against Cancer (Advocacy & Fund-Raising through Entertainment & Sports).
The NCW will be preceded by the “Race Against Cancer” organised by the Nigerian Stock Exchange for listed companies and the capital market community, to raise funds towards the MCC. This comes up on Saturday, May 16, 2015 at Onikan Stadium.
Oronto Douglas was one of Nigeria’s greatest thinker-activists; he was the only Nigerian listed by the Institute of International Studies, University of California, USA as one of the world’s 20 most influential thinkers and voices.
He was the first Nigerian environmental activist to be received by a serving American President when he presented the Niger-Delta struggle at the White House to President Bill Clinton.
That golden voice has now been silenced by cancer, but by his harrowing experience Oronto yet speaks, albeit post-humously, appealing to us to heed the clarion call of the CECP. If we could listen with our inner ear, we would hear Oronto pointing out that it is in our enlightened best interest for MCC to be available in Nigeria, thereby helping to prevent cancer with readily available and accessible facilities.
During the funeral of Oronto Douglas, President Goodluck Jonathan lamented that Oronto died when he was most needed.
However, one act of goodness that could redeem the tragedy of Oronto’s death would be for Oronto’s friends and colleagues to honour their own by donating an MCC in his memory.
For Oronto Douglas, it is too late but such a gesture would mean that other Nigerians would have a better chance of living cancer-free lives and to see their children’s children.
Everyone is invited to play a part in the big war against cancer in Nigeria; do not be missing in action! “By moving forward together we have the potential to show Cancer: It is not beyond us.”- Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) 2015.
Dr. Abia Nzelu (Executive Secretary, CECP-Nigeria) can be reached via [email protected] or [email protected].
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
