Ministry of Health develops cancer awareness in local dialects

The Federal Ministry of Health has developed Cancer awareness jingles in pidgin english, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba languages to further increase the awareness of cancers across the country, especially in rural areas.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Amb. Sani Bala, stated this  at a Ministerial press briefing in commemoration of the 2014 World cancer Day recently in Abuja.
The Minister stated that the ministry has developed cancer awareness jingles in these local dialects to demystify some cultural beliefs or myths that have been associated with the disease, as talking about it would improve early detection which ultimately saves lives.
He assured Nigerians that as the Ministry marks this year’s World Cancer Day, it “has left no stone unturned to demystify cancer.”
The Minister further added that the Federal government has established at least one Tertiary Health Institution in all the 36 states of the Federation with capacity to manage different  categories of cancers.
He said: “Our vision is that no Nigerian should travel more than 200 kilometers to access the best of cancer in Nigeria.
“To this end, limited facilities such as radiotherapy and Nuclear medecine services will be available in 10 Federal Tertiary Health institutions in Nigeria by the end of 2016.
He also added that a Technical Working Group will soon be inaugurated to scale up cervical Cancer screening project in Nigeria, adding that the focus is on Cervical cancer because of its prevalence in Nigeria as the second commonest cancer after breast cancer.
The United Nations has set aside the 4th of Febuary every year to commemorate  the World Cancer Day, and the theme for this year’s  World Cancer Day is “Debunk the Myths”.