By Juliet Umeh

To encourage early detection of breast cancer among Nigerian women, Sebeccly Cancer Care Foundation weekend floated an initiative, ‘Breast Health Fridays,’ a programme that encourages early detection by screening.

The initiative aims to educate 10,000 women and provide subsidized screenings for 1,000.

Founder of Sebeccly Cancer Care, and Consultant, Clinical and Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Omolola Salako, who expressed worry over the late-stage presentation of cancer patients in Nigeria, said breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in the country and early detection is key to successful treatment.

According to her, many women present with advanced-stage disease due to a lack of screening.

She said: “Every cancer centre you go to, 70 per cent of the patients come in late.”

she stressed that such late presentation is no longer acceptable because it makes cancer difficult.

She noted that ‘Breast Health Fridays’, a five-month programme, supported by Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation, ACT, and Access bank would contribute in reversing the trend in the country.

She noted that through the support of the partners, they are ready to educate 10,000 women and screen 1000.

Salako said: “Every year, more than 20,000 Nigerian women are diagnosed with breast cancer, but they are presenting with stage three and stage four disease, which is not only difficult to cure, it is expensive to treat.

“The Breast Health Fridays is about encouraging women to be more breast healthy, to understand the breast screening guidelines, which is from age 20.

“From age 20, you should see a doctor once a year for a clinical breast examination, including your annual medical checkup. And once you’re age 40, you have your mammogram.

“Breast Health Fridays is a programme providing all of these breast screening services at a discount so that women who have breast lumps or breast abnormalities can, number one, be cared for and diagnosed if they have cancer or not.

“The difference between our situation in Nigeria and advanced countries is this. Today, abroad, they are diagnosing maybe 80,000 women with breast cancer. It’s more common abroad in Caucasians.

“But they are diagnosing it as stage one, stage two. Why? Because the women are not waiting to have breast lumps before they find it. They do their breast screening guidelines earlier, they check their breasts, and they do their mammograms.

“Mammograms are x-rays where you can pick up a lump before you can feel it. But here in Nigeria, a lot of women are presenting with lumps. It takes them about six to 12 months before we know it is cancer. So globally, the guideline is, that from age 20, you should start your breast screening. That is what the Breast Health Fridays is about.”

She explained that the programme will run for the next five months and women are expected to go on their website, book an appointment by clicking on the link, then register and make a discounted payment,

She said: “The woman has access to a one-hour short video on everything about breast screening among other services.”

Speaking on their partnership with Sebeccly, the Team Lead Branding and Communications at Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation, Omoye Oriaghan who spoke on behalf of the ACT Foundation CEO, Osayi Alile, said the foundation deemed it necessary to help in addressing some of these issues by making funding available for foundations like Sebeccly.