With over 10,000 cases of cervical diagnosed in women each year out of which 7,000 die, Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode has urged Nigerian women to seek early diagnosis and treatment for cancer even as Sebeccly Cancer Care has launched a screening programme tagged: “TimeTo Screen” save more women from breast and cervical cancers.
The TimeToScreen programme is a breast and cervical cancer awareness and screening and detection aimed at preventing the breast and cervical cancers in women.
Launching the programme in Lagos, Mrs. Ambode also advocated regular medical checks for all women. Ambode who was represented by Mrs. Oyindamola Ogunsan, strongly advised women to get their priorities right.
“We should not only be concerned about our outward appearance such as making sure our hair is well done, buying expensive clothes, forgetting that our health is our life.”
Speaking, the Executive Director, Dr. Omolola Salako, said TimeToScreen, is designed to provide affordable quality client centred, and comprehensive breast and cervical cancer screening to 8,000 women yearly.
Salako who is also a Consultant Clinical Radiation Oncologist, said the programme will run free clinics every Friday for indigent women. “Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the cervix which is the neck of the womb.
The neck of the womb is the part that opens up when a woman is about to deliver a child, if a woman is infected with HPV she can clear it, if it doesn’t clear, it causes chronicle infection in HPV and if that stay on the cervix it can cause cervical cancer.”
She noted that cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can truly be prevented because it is caused by a virus called the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), transmitted during sexual intercourse, Salako explained.
“HPV can lead to pre-cancer stage, that is about 10 years. The essence of screening is to detect that pre-cancer stage. When we screen and we find the pre-cancer stage, we will treat it immediately.
For prevention, she counselled that it requires the ABC of sex, “Abstain when you have to, Be faithful to your partner and then use a Condom. Also, screening is crucial once you have engaged in sex and you are above 21 years, be it 1,000 times or once, go for screening. Those who have not engaged in sexual intercourse they will benefit the most from vaccination.”
