More findings in the report released yesterday revealed that most adult Nigerians (77 per cent) believe that cancer disease is prevalent in the country and 28 per cent said they or a family member have suffered from the ailment.
According to the National Cancer Control Plan (2018–2022), cancer is responsible for 72,000 deaths in Nigeria every year, with an estimated 102,000 new cases of cancer annually.
On how the Federal Government can assist those suffering from cancer ailment, 47 per cent advised that government should provide centres for free cancer screening. Other suggestions include making cancer drugs cheaper for patients (27 per cent), creation of awareness for cancer disease (17 per cent), making the equipment for cancer treatment readily available (16 per cent) and subsidising treatment of cancer (12 per cent).
Cancer is a general term for a large cluster of ailments that can affect any part of the human body. Other similar terms used are malignant tumours and neoplasms. One major feature of cancer is the speedy creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade contiguous parts of the body and spread to other organs; the latter process is referred to as metastasis. Widespread metastasis is the primary cause of death from cancer.
Cancer is caused by alteration of normal cells into tumour cells in a multi-stage process that generally progresses from a pre-cancerous lesion to a malignant tumour. These changes are the result of the interaction between a person’s genetic factors and three categories of external agents, which include physical, chemical, and biological carcinogens.
According to WHO statistics, cancer is the leading cause of death all over the world resulting in nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 or nearly one in six deaths. The most common cancers that occur in human include breast, lungs, colon, rectum, and prostate cancers.
Additionally, one-third of deaths caused by cancer are due to tobacco use, high body mass index, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake and lack of physical activities.
With this background, NOIPolls conducted the survey commencing May 8, 2023, to gauge the perception of Nigerians regarding cancer. It involved telephone interviews of a proportionate nationwide sample of 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years.
