Niola foundation celebrates World Colorectal Cancer Day

Oluwatunmise Mafe

In commemoration of Colorectal Cancer month, Niola Cancer Care Foundation in collaboration with Olufunke Kikelomo Olugbemi Cancer foundation held its first symposium on Saturday, March 6th 2021.

Colorectal cancer is a cancer of the colon or rectum, located at the digestive tract’s lower end. Some symptoms include changes in bowel habits, changes in stool consistency, blood in the stool, abdominal discomfort, fatigue and weight loss.

Some causes may be due to Genetics; History of Colorectal Cancer in the family; Lifestyle; eating habits, drinking, smoking, General; Age, Obesity, Type II Diabetes, Past records of inflammatory Bowel disease.

Early detection is necessary in treating colorectal cancer in order to save the life of a patient. Some of the treatments include; Surgery, Immunotherapy, Chemotherapy, Radio Therapy, Targeted Therapy.

The Niola Cancer Care Foundation and it’s partner organisations advocate for greater Cancer Management and Control, improved Cancer Care treatment for every patient with this dreadful disease, Creating unmatched awareness and education on the disease, Prevention through regular screening, Early detection identification, accurate diagnosis and assessment and early treatment for a possible cure.

Each year, the 3rd of March and the whole month of March is declared as Colorectal cancer Day and CRC awareness month respectively which aims at saving millions of lives by raising awareness on colorectal cancer and cancer in general as well as encouraging government at all tiers (Federal, State and Local government), corporate bodies, Non-governmental Organisations and individuals across the globe to take actions against the disease in order to reduce the global burden of colorectal cancer and cancer in general.

Also read: Oncologist decries growing incidences of cancer disease in Nigeria

This also helps in denouncing myths and misconceptions about cancer. The myth that “cancer is a death sentence” is not true because there are many ways of preventing and detecting cancer in its early stages. Also, the myth that “colorectal cancer is a disease of the wealthy” is not true because cancer is a disease that affects people of all socio-economic classes.

Challenges of cancer care

These are some of the problems faced by healthcare in treating cancer patients.

There is an increased burden of cancer in the face of poor resources.

The equipment for the proper diagnosis of patients with cancer is inadequate.

Poor treatment for cancer patients because of the non-availability of chemotherapeutic medicine.

The burden of paying for cancer care and the lack of trained personnel for cancer care.

The lack of an organised cancer registry.

The cancer centres are not dedicated to taking care of cancer patients.

What can be done against the challenges?

National health insurance should provide health insurance that insures the national population against the costs of health care challenges like Colorectal cancer. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both.

The budget allocation to the healthcare sector should be increased and a special section should be made for cancer care.

Nigerian lawmakers should design a system that can bring cancer diagnostics, treatment and palliative care packages to all parts of the country.

The Federal Government should increase the level of taxation on goods such as alcohol and tobacco which are harmful to the human body and can cause disease such as colorectal cancer.

The population should be screened in order to get early detection of the disease and to start early treatment.

The cancer screening centres and the treatment centres should be equipped with reliable and empathetic staff in order to combat the problems of Colorectal cancer and all forms of cancer.

Vanguard News Nigeria

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