Lagos State Government, through Lagos State Lotteries Board, and in partnership with Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Access Bank PLC, W Initiative and Rite Foods Ltd, is offering Free Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening and Early Treatments to 1,000 women across 6 locations over a 5-month period in Lagos State.
Dr Femi Olaleye, Medical Director, Optimal Cancer Care Foundation made this known in a statement on Tuesday, June 22.
World Health Organization (WHO) has identified cancer as a global public health concern, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. The risk of breast cancer is about 1 in every 25 women and cervical cancer kills a woman every hour, almost 10,000 women a year in Nigeria.
These cancers are very preventable with the aid of regular cancer screening and early treatments and that is why WHO recommends regular screening as a tool to fight cancers.
During this free screening and early treatments project, beneficiaries will be empowered with cancer awareness, screening and an opportunity to get treated early, thereby safe-guarding their lives against untimely deaths due to any of these cancers in future!
Lagos State Government has identified 5 strategic locations to roll out this life-saving program namely; Lagos Island, Lekki, Ikorodu, Onigbongbo, FESTAC and Ebute-metta in the first year of this campaign with Optimal Cancer Care Foundation.
The foundation plans to reach other locations in Lagos and indeed outside Lagos, as the awareness campaign is broadened in the following years to come.
The flag-off for this program will take place at Lagos City Centre near Sura, Lagos Island on Saturday 26th June, 2021 from 8am-4pm.
With this project, Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, an NGO dedicated and committed to cancer awareness and early detection of preventable cancers, has an objective to reach 1,000 direct beneficiaries and possibly over 1,000,000 indirect beneficiaries in order to improve access of women to cancer screening and prevention services in Lagos State with the support of dedicated partners, sponsors & volunteers.
