IHVN seeks funding to offer training on cervical cancer
NAN-HG-2
Cancer
By Yashim Katurak
Abuja, March 1, 2017 (NAN) The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) has called for funding support to enable it scale up its training programme for medical personnel on cervical cancer screening in the country.
Dr Patrick Dakum, the IHVN Chief Executive Officer (CEO), made the appeal while fielding questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said that the institute has had to slow down the cervical free testing programme as it did not have enough trained personnel to conduct the screening in some parts of the county.
“First of all you require funding to scale-up. In the places where we have trained people already they are continuing with providing cervical cancer screening.
“In the places where we have not trained people we need funding to be able to do that and we do not have the funding for that, and basically that is the reason why that project slowed down,” Dakum said.
He said although cancer has in recent time become one of the re-occurring diseases in Nigeria, the level of cancer burden in the country could not yet be ascertained as investigations have not been carried out in the area.
He said that the institute was therefore making plans to carry out investigations into the types of cancer that were prevalent and the burden of such cancers in the country.
“I have applied for a research grant to investigate and see the burden of cancer among HIV patients specifically in women.
“We are hoping that this proposed investigation will get funded so that we can know the actual burden of cancer in the country,’’ according to Dakum.
He said that the institute has supported the establishment of about seven cancer registries across the country as the registries which were available were not organised.
“These registries systematically collect data about cancers and report the issues to relevant agencies. For now, we do know that HIV is associated with some cancers; specifically the skin cancer and cervical cancer.
“We also know that if you start treatment early for HIV it reduces a lot of complications; it reduces the incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) and the incidence of cancers.
“One thing we noticed is the prevalence of cervical cancer in women among HIV patients and we are currently supporting a number of hospitals in establishing visual inspection with acetic acid.
“This is where the women are examined and if they see a discoloration acetic acid is applied to nib the problem in the bud,’’ said the chief executive officer. (NAN)
KRY/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola