Cancer Advocacy, Cancer Control, Early Detection, Universal Health Coverage

I am a driven, aspirational, and self-driven person who is passionate about cancer advocacy, research, and enhancing the lives and access to care of cancer patients in Nigeria. I am a self-assured, adaptable team player with outstanding communication skills who has received the necessary training to multitask while maintaining high standards in my job as a Radiation Therapist, Breast Imaging Specialist, Cancer Advocate, and Founder of a Cancer Advocacy Organization.

In the last 10 years, I have transitioned from diagnosing Cancer to treating the disease, and becoming an Advocate for Prevention, Early Detection, Access to Care and Influencing Government Policies for improved Cancer Control in Nigeria. I have been an active member of the Nigerian Cancer Society, and recently joined the group of delegates comprising of selected government Officials and Cancer Advocates that represented Nigeria at the last World Cancer Congress in Geneva. I have been at the forefront of stakeholder engagements in my country, and have been privileged to stand out due to my passion and energy to impact the health of communities positively. My daily work routine involves dispensing radiation to treat or manage cancerous and non-cancerous tumours which entails being both fierce and empathetic and I strive to do that excellently. My work experience is what inspired me to be a renowned cancer advocate in Nigeria. Earlier this year, I took the module titled “Social determinants of health” as part of my MSc core modules, that led me to embark on an outreach to the Nomadic Fulani settlements across Nigeria to fully understand the concept, this became an eye-opener to the health inequities ravaging communities in low/middle-income countries. The estimated 50 million nomadic pastoralists in Africa are among the most “hard-to-reach” populations for health-service delivery. Some studies have identified these communities as potential disease reservoirs, particularly those slated for elimination and eradication. The constant mobility of nomadic populations excludes them or places them at the edge of healthcare services. That made me very keen to understand causes and be a part of the solution for equitable access to healthcare services in every nook and corner of this planet.

My main purpose stems from a firm desire to contribute my quota in tackling the growing mortality and morbidity rates of cancer- I am a driven advocate for creating Cancer awareness in my country through which I started a Cancer Advocacy Organization named “Call off Cancer Initiative” which is a corporate member Organization of the Nigerian Cancer Society, which in turn is a full member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). In my effort to contribute to the elimination of Cervical Cancer in Nigeria, I became an active member of The International Papilloma Virus Society - which is the global authority for Papilloma Viruses. I am also the convener and president of The Arewa Cancer Control Coalition, which is a group of passionate Civil Society Organizations and Advocates across Northern Nigeria with the sole aim of tackling the menace of Cancer deaths by reaching grass-root indigent communities with awareness and patient support through a region-specific approach in local dialects tailored to the needs and understanding of the underserved, uneducated, and disease-ravaged communities that have been struggling with access to healthcare post boko-haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria.

COMMUNITY SERVICE THROUGH CANCER ADVOCACY

1.     Creating Awareness on early detection of Cancer, Access to Cancer Care in our poor-resource setting and educating the public on symptoms of different forms of Cancer on and off social media.

2.     Collaborating with hospitals to give free/discounted cancer screening for the most common Cancers in Nigeria, mostly for breast, cervical and prostate cancers and moblilizing the public to take advantage of the opportunity and get timely screening through wide publicity, media jingles, social media influencers and word of mouth.

3.     Last World Cancer day, my Organization Inaugurated the first ever cancer control coalition in Northern Nigeria which is a coalition of Northern Nigerian women to brainstorm the menace of cancer in the region and proffer solutions that can bring about a drastic and palpable decline of the staggering high cancer mortality and morbidity rates in Northern Nigeria.

The mission of Arewa Cancer Control Coalition is to educate our region on what needs to be known about this disease by advocating preventive measures as tools for early detection in a way that can reach the grass root level, make cancer care accessible and affordable by the common citizen with emphasis on radiotherapy services, and provide a platform for making the cancer treatment journey easy for the patients and their families through our voices, initiatives and influences.

4.     Through the ACC Coalition, we’ll soon kick start a door to door advocacy campaign and screening of breast, cervical and prostate cancers while also training the trainers for breast self-examination to extend the education and awareness beyond our reach throughout the 19 Northern States in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory with the sole aim of reaching the grass root population that is ravaged by poverty, insecurity (banditry, kidnapping, insurgency/terrorism) and profound backwardness in formal education. The population that mostly relies on traditional medicines and herbs and end up presenting late to the hospital and consequently dying from advanced stage Cancer.

5.     Last International Women’s Day, Call off Cancer Initiative Hosted an International Webinar that discussed Gynecological Cancers in Northern Nigeria. We had speakers from the UK and Nigeria educate women on the topic and also acceptance of the recently launched free HPV Vaccination in Nigeria to help in eliminating cervical cancer.

6.     I lead my team to embark on research projects that puts Africa on the map of understanding Cancer, treatment options, clinical trials and conclusive findings tailored to our demography. We are currently working on four research projects to tackle cervical cancer, namely;

•   Radio-toxicity for Cervical Cancer patients post treatment
• Prevalence of Brain Metastasis from Cervical cancer

7.     Currently participating in a range of capacity-building courses in cancer advocacy organized by The Union for International Cancer Control.

8.     Speaker at the last World Cancer Congress, Geneva, September 2024.

9.     Recently launched “Ruga” Initiative. A cancer Advocacy Campaign that will be centered in Nomadic Fulani settlements across Africa.

https://calloffcancer.org/

The scope of Call off Cancer initiative by defining and identifying the needed solutions, means of implementation and assessing the needs, challenges and resources that we have available. What type of funding do we need? How do we raise the funds? Will the leaders involved provide resources for public affairs or do we need to hire an external consultant? Are our policy asks achievable, and if not, can we make them more specific? Once we have answered these questions, we should have a basic framework to create an objective, target audience, timeline and action plan for the campaign. We’ll ensure these are clear, concise and achievable asks and are underlined by solid evidence.

ACTION PLAN

·       Educating the populace on early detection and screening especially in breast, cervical and prostate cancers.

·       Encouraging and advocating investments in the healthcare sector, private partnerships and private cancer centres.

·       Radiotherapy access and funding.

·       Reaching the grass root where sensitization is much needed.

·       Brainstorming the staggering high cancer statistics in Africa and the way forward.

·       Handling myths, misinformation and cultural stereotypes.

·       Publicity, press involvement, strong online presence and social media strategy.

·       Communication plan and future round table schedules.

·       Stakeholders mapping: Targeting key politicians and policy makers.

·       Outlining fiscal responsibilities: Funding, Donations, Costs.

·       Develop a consensus on the key asks and policy proposals- Effective, united and clear demands.