Source: This Day Live
Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Society for Family Health, Prof. Shima Gio has said that cervical cancer is no longer a death sentence in women as there are many ways of treating it now.
Gio stated this during the formal presentation of Cryotherapy Machine used in the treatment of pre-cancerous lesion of the cervix to one of its partner health facilities, Sanffron Hospital Nyanya, Abuja.
While responding to questions Gio said, "When cancer was first discovered, most cancer then were like death sentences but not now. We have found many ways of treating it and even when it comes out, the person can have very many years of useful and quality life.
"Cervical cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in a woman's cervix (the narrow opening of the womb into the vagina). Cervical cancer is the most common female cancer in the developing countries, with approximately 500,000 new cases and 25, 000 deaths occurring each year," he said.
According to Gio, "The chances of survival are not very low. The survival in this country are reasonable. Well, cancer normally increases with age and I will say that, the women who are from 40yrs and above are more at risk than the younger ones, it can occur at any age as it doesn't follow any pattern but, common in older."
He, however, observed that, the machine is not for treating cancer patients as the agency has found out that, cervical cancer is caused by a virus and anytime the virus infects a woman, it maybe there for several years before it is noticed and the virus is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse. So, "women who has this virus, if we can find out that the virus is there, we will kill it before it causes cancer and this is what the machine is all about," he said.
Stressing further, he said that, the machine should be present in every hospital/clinic in Nigeria and that Nigeria could afford it if we put our priorities right. He added that the machine is valued at $3000. Responding, the Chief Medical Director, Saffron Hospital, Dr.Tide Oye, thanked the Society for Family Health for its continuous effort for the provision of quality health care services to the nation.
He further tasked the federal government and other stakeholders in the health sector for more support in delivering adequate and affordable health services to the people and promised to make good use of the machine.