Textile workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), have sensitised the public on the rising cases of cancer among Nigerians, giving tips on ways to curb it.
The event, which was held in collaboration with the Timilehin Leukemia Foundation (TLF) at the Ogba area of Lagos State, featured cancer awareness lectures and free screening of participants.
Speaking at the event, the founder of TLF, Comrade Jane Oyedele, gave insight on how she lost her only son to the disease.
Oyedele said that lack of facilities in Nigeria had made it difficult for people suffering from the disease to detect it early, and, consequently, many lives had been lost as a result.
She gave high rate of poverty and ill-treatment of Nigerian doctors in terms of welfare as factors that aid the rise of the disease in the country.
She explained that TLF aims at assisting patients suffering from the illness, and to also raise awareness on how to reduce cancer-related deaths.
At the event, a parent whose son is suffering from leukemia, Mrs Chidinma Obanla, disclosed that she spends N70,000 weekly on treating the boy, aside pleading for blood donors anytime her son needed to be transfused.
The guest speaker at the occasion, Dr Oluwatosin Adeyemo, gave a grim picture of the spread of cancer. “Every three minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. Three per cent in women and two per cent in men of them are likely to be leukemia,” Dr Adeyemo said.
She added that people who may be prone to the ailment include those who suffer from one infection to another serially, those who notice that their PCV is going down, anyone with constant malaria and typhoid, and anyone bleeding in any part of the body often.
In addition, she said, people living close to industries, and people with unclean hands or who touch chemical substances and radiation from phones may fall victim of cancer.
Comrade Ismail Bello, who represented the General Secretary of NUTGTWN, Comrade Issa Aremu, asked Nigerians to show love to one another, especially people suffering from one illness or another.
Similarly, the president of NUTGTWN, Comrade John Adaji, disclosed that the union had been involved in various awareness campaigns, ranging from HIVS/AIDS to Ebola.
Adaji assured TLF that the union would support the official launching of the NGO on February 24, 2018, while appealing to members of the public to donate blood regularly to assist cancer-patients.
Dr Adeyemo advised Nigerians to go for medical check-up regularly, adding that government should provide health insurance services to cancer-patients to reduce amount spent on treatment.
She also urged the Federal Government to establish a National Cancer Institute, as well as increase budgetary allocations to the health sector.
