The Federal Government says it has made plans in a new policy plans for cancer survivors to be catered to adequately.
The Director-General, National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Dr Usman Aliyu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
According to him, the plan is contained in one of the three cancer policies aimed at aiding cancer prevention and treatment in Nigeria the Federal Government will inaugurate soon.
He said that the institute has since its establishment in January, been working on the policies that are expected to ensure that cancer prevention, treatment and research into all cancer issues are put on the front burner.
“We have drafted our second National Strategic Cancer Control Plan. The first one that was ever drafted for the country was for 2018 to 2022 which has expired, but I’m happy to announce to you that the institute has drafted a new cancer plan.
“It is a five year plan that will span from 2023 to 2027 and that is all encompassing. The plan will be a leading guide to all the activities of cancer in the country and it cuts across the area of cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care and even survivorship for the first time.Aliyutime.Aliyu also said that this informed the decision to begin to look into how to close that gap.
He said that the week would also feature interactive sessions and presentation on cancer registries, adding that cancer registries are the key to getting data on cancer.
“In the area of research, the Institute is already working on how to carry out a general cancer mapping for the country. This is important because we want to standardise the data that we have in the area.
“We mapped out all the cancers that we have using the cancer registries that we have, the research tools and even the individual hospitals that are not in the cancer registry.
“The data will be more robust and more reliable than just making an estimate based on other diseases or what our neighbours have to take decisions on Nigeria as well in other area of cancer.”
