Anambra governor’s wife, Mrs Nonye Soludo, has explained that early diagnosis, increased awareness, and regular checks are key steps to tackle the threats of cancers.

 

Mrs Soludo in a statement released in Awka to commemorate this year’s World Cancer Day, noted that it is important to spread the message of cancer threats while also adding that it is not entirely a death sentence.

 

She stated that discovering the disease early enough would help in saving life , stressing that to achieve the mitigation result, all stakeholders are expected to team up to amplify the education and awareness, especially in rural communities and noted that cancer, just like every other household disease, can be prevented by healthy living and being intentional with dietary rules and overall consumption habits.

 

Mrs Soludo pointed out that the growing deaths from different types of cancer, call for more tactical approach, closer collaborations, and smarter ideas to educate, counsel, treat, and mitigate it and commended the efforts of partners, including the World Health Organization, WHO, Clinton Health Access Initiative, CHAI, and United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, who have shown strong support for government policies to push back cancer in the State.

 

Mrs Soludo, who is a Cervical Cancer Ambassador, said that while the arrival of Human Papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine in the State is very close, Anambra has made good gains on the national cancer index as a result of on-the-ground policies, including the free cervical cancer screening and treatment programmes initiated by the state government.

 

She further expressed hope that her breast cancer mitigation programme, which will kick off soon, will be important to the drive to take cancer mortality in the state to near zero.

 

World Cancer Day is commemorated globally on the fourth of February every year to raise awareness and re-assess stakeholders’ actions to mitigate all forms of cancer across the world.

 

The theme for the 2022-2024 campaign is “Close the cancer gap,” while the theme for the 2024 fixture is “Together, we challenge those powers.”