Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, the founder and president of the recently established Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN) is urging Nigerian governments on both local and federal levels to cater to the prevention, control, and treatment of cancer within their annual budgets.
As a breast cancer survivor herself, the first lady of Ondo State notes that Nigerian governments exhibit a lukewarm attitude towards the deadly disease while speaking at the BRECAN launch in Akure. According to her, with the strides made in the health and technology sectors in the world today, there was no reason for women – the most affected victims of the disease – to die from breast cancer.
Mrs Akeredolu insists that it is only humanitarian to give back to communities in terms of raising awareness and providing them with the essential tools to live cancer free, as well as fight the disease in its early stages. She made this statement in light of the several BRECAN chapters launched across Nigeria. She also stressed that the disease required special attention because anything that affects women’s health as intimately and adversely, ultimately affects everyone.
At a BRECAN World Cancer Day event held in Ikeja, Lagos in February, global health expert Dr Kinglsey Udoh revealed that cancer causes more deaths around the world than Malaria, HIV, and Tuberculosis combined. Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, declared his state’s support for the ongoing anti-cancer crusade through a pledge to establish a facility for the treatment of cancer.
Mrs Akeredolu’s suggestion to consider cancer in budget allocations is yet another reminder of the general lack of foresight in Nigeria when it comes to its health sector.
The provisions and delayed execution of Nigeria’s 2017 budget remains a controversial topic in the country. However, certain aspects of it, such as its health provisions, have rightfully come under scrutiny and criticism.
In February, This Day broke down the 4.17 percent (N304 billion) health allocation in the 2017 national budget to reveal that Nigerian citizens are entitled to healthcare worth a dastardly N1,688 for an entire year. The conclusion being that at this rate, Nigeria will continue to record some of the highest mortality rates in the world, since the average citizen cannot afford adequate healthcare.
Earlier this month, the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) called on the government to increase the national budget on health, as the existing allocation failed to meet the government declaration made in 2001 which promised that national budgets would allocate 14 percent of its total expenditure to health.
Given the examples above, governments in Nigeria need to urgently make financial allowances to improve the health situation in the country and help empower initiatives such as the anti-cancer crusade embarked upon by BRECAN.
