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(Opinion) Cancer and Ambode’s birthday wish

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode

 

Tayo Ogunbiyi

It is no longer news that the world is presently grappling many fierce challenges. Global terrorism has heightened the fear of insecurity across the globe. The world over, poverty has become a serious threat as we now have to deal with a poverty line as low as $1.25 per day. It is even more shocking that 1/7th of the world’s population lives below this line. Climate change has equally continued to be a major issue threat to an increasingly endangered world. It has constituted a major threat to cities and indeed nations across the world.

To compound the global trend of turbulent, wars occasioned by political differences have continued to displace millions of people across the world. As if this is not enough, many nations of the world currently grapple with severe economic strain that seems to have defied all scientific solutions. The world, no doubt, faces a difficult phase.

Aside the numerous socio-political and economic woes being faced by various nations across the world, the world is equally contending with increasing menace of several life threatening diseases. HIV AIDS, Ebola, Tuberculosis, among others are some of the diseases that have continued to defy logical explanations world-wide. However, of all globally acknowledged menacing diseases, cancer remains, perhaps, the most dreadful. Though, the threat of cancer has been on across the ages, it is, however, only in the second half of the 20th century that the numbers of cancer cases have tremendously increased.

Today, the cancer scourge is enormous and there is little hope of the situation getting better. At present, an estimated 8.2 million people die from cancer world-wide annually. Out of this number, 4 million people die precipitately at relatively young age of 30 and 45. A recent statistics has revealed that in 2001 alone, cancer is responsible for about 13% of all human deaths globally (7.9million). A statistics from Cancer Research UK has similarly revealed that 14.1 million adults worldwide were diagnosed with cancer in 2012 while 8.2 million people died from it in the same year (4.7 million males and 3.5 million females).

Nigeria is not in any way immune from the disease as it records about 100,000 new cases of cancer annually. Currently, according to experts, the country contends with about 2 million recorded cases of cancer. Breast and cervical cancer are the commonest forms of cancer in Nigeria and they occur in women. According to the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP- Nigeria), 30 Nigerian women die every day of breast cancer while one Nigerian woman dies every hour of cervical cancer. Also, CECP-Nigeria has revealed that 14 Nigerian men die daily of prostate cancer while one Nigerian dies every hour of liver cancer and one other dies every two hours of colon cancer.

Basically, cancers occur as a result of excessive amount of toxin and pollutants people are exposed to, obesity, tobacco use, lack of physical activity, high stress lifestyles that zap the immune system, poor quality junk food that are full of pesticides, irradiated and genetically modified. Other causes include electro-magnetic lights and everything we were not exposed to 200 years ago. Findings have shown that tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer, causing about 70%vof global lung cancer deaths and 20% of global cancer deaths. All the afore-mentioned weaken the immune system and change the body’s internal environment to one that promotes cancer growth .While cancer can affect people of all ages, and a few types of cancer are more common in children, the risk of developing cancer generally increases with age.

Cancer is no respecter of age or social status as men and women of all classes have fallen victim of this terrible plague. In Nigeria, experience has shown that, often times, cancer patients have been treated for other diseases for a long time leading to the metastases of the disease and the eventual death of the patient. The late legal luminary and social crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi falls into this category as he was once diagnosed with pneumonia but eventually died of lung cancer. Some symptoms of cancer include fatigue, weight loss, unexplained anemia and inexplicable fever.

Experts have, however, disclosed that a major key to fighting cancer is early detection. It is, therefore, advised that we regularly conduct medical check-ups to discover the disease when it could be easily and quickly tackled with little complications. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 30% of cancer deaths can be avoided by keeping away from or adjusting key threat factors such as being obese, harmful diet with low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, alcohol use, sexually transmitted HPV-infections, infection by HBV (Hepatitis virus), ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, urban air pollution and indoor smoke from household use of solid fuels.

Chemotherapy (drugs) and radiotherapy are used as a first line radical therapy in a number of malignancies where disease is clearly incurable aiming at improving the quality of and prolonging life. Surgeries are used to remove tumours entirely in situations where there are some degrees of certainties that the tumors can in fact be removed. Chemotherapy works by killing all cells throughout the body that multiply and divide rapidly which include cancer cells and other rapidly multiplying and dividing cells that the body needs. These include bone marrow which produces blood, digestive and reproductive system, and hair follicles etc. leading to anemia, loss of weight and hair loss.

Without a doubt, critical action needs to be taken to raise awareness about the disease and to develop practical strategies to address the cancer burden. It has been revealed that the global burden of cancer is set to double by 2020 and almost triple by 2030 when one out of every two persons is expected to be diagnosed of cancer in their life time. This, indeed, is a frightening prospect and as such must not be allowed to become a reality. Therefore, everyone has a responsibility to support those who are experiencing cancer epidemic and are faced with insufficient resources.

It is in this respect that the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, needs to be commended for creatively using the occasion of his birthday, which is usually spent for merry making, to call national and global attention to the scourge of cancer. By calling on his family members, friends, political associates and well wishers wishing to place congratulatory messages on his birthday, to channel same to the fight against cancer, the governor have, no doubt, raised the bar in the war against the scourge. The Ambode cancer initiative, which is being coordinated by CECP-Nigeria, will undoubtedly go a long way in touching the distraught and impacting humanity.

It is expected that other highly placed individuals and organisations in the society would join hands with the Governor in this worthy course to preserve humanity. We have demonstrated in the onslaught against Ebola that, as a people, when we are united to pursue a common course, nothing can stop us from achieving our goals. We can, as well, do the same, by upholding a common front in the war against cancer.

Ogunbiyi writes from Lagos.

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