Oyo State pioneers novel initiative to curb cervical cancer deaths

 Nigeria records an estimated 8,000 deaths and 12,075 new cases of cervical cancer every year, making it the second most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria, and the second most frequent cancer, among women aged 15- 44 years.

As part of the response to the national and international calls for cancer prevention, management and control, the Oyo State government has pioneered a novel cervical cancer prevention and control initiative with the launch of the Cervical Cancer Screening Project ECHO.

The Project, which is coming five years after the State launched its 5-year cancer control plan, is a partnership between the Oyo State government through the Ministry of Health, the University of New Mexico Cancer centre, and the University of Maryland and the Centre for Bioethics and Research, is a direct response to the call for action for the elimination of cervical cancer by the World Health Organisation, WHO.

Tagged Nigeria UNM UMB Cancer Control ECHO (NUUCCE) Programme, the project is essential to reduce the cancer burden through intensive training for qualified frontline health workers across the state.

The programme is being facilitated by Prof Cosette Wheeler of the  Departments of Pathology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of New Mexico and Professor Clement Adebomowo of the University College Hospital, and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, with support from Dr. Imran Morhason-Bello, a consultant gynaecologist at the UCH and College of Medicine, as well as the Oyo State Director of Public Health, Dr. Olubunmi Ayinde.

The project is described as the first of its kind in Nigeria and possibly in West Africa, where a state government is collaborating with international experts to launch a robust training programme with a  sustained partnership toward the prevention and intervention of cervical cancer. 

The Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Taiwo Oladipo, explained that the project, which is hybrid in nature, will last one year, including a monthly lecture with hands-on training designed for frontline health workers from the State’s government-owned health care institutions.

Oladipo who spoke at the virtual flag-off of the training said the initiative will boost the State’s capacity for mass cervical cancer screening and prevention.

Further, the commissioner noted that in addition to being a screening and care initiative, the exercise is expected to go a long way in ensuring that cervical cancer issues are reduced or eliminated in the State.

“The ECHO programme will support  and move the state forward in cancer care,  and most especially ensure that qualitative  information and intervention, in prevention and control of cervical cancer  is brought to the poor and to  translate to a reduction in our maternal mortality.” 

Sustainable Development Goal 3, targets the reduction of 
the mortality rate in non-communicable diseases by one third between 2015-2030.