…as 9 Brigade Commander recommends regular exercise
By Okosun Dennis
As part of the annual Breast Cancer Awareness month, about 300 women were on Tuesday screened for both breast and cervical cancer at the 9 Brigade, Nigerian Army Medical Centre, Ikeja Cantonment.
The programme designed to educate and sensitize women about the prevalence of breast cancer, was organised through the Brigade’s Medical Centre and was sponsored by “Working Together Health Foundation.”
In his key note address, a Consultant Radiologist and Acting Commanding Officer, 9 Brigade Medical Centre, Major (Dr) Nneka Ani described breast cancer as one of the fastest silent killers in recent times.
While attributing the exponential rising incidences in the last years due to changes in lifestyle modifications, she disclosed that there are currently about 1.3million new cases with 458,000 deaths from breast cancer.
With Nigeria groping with a total of 36,310 cases per year, Dr Ani reiterated that the need to carry out such workshop was most expedient as breast cancer disease affect both men and women in both developed and underdeveloped countries.
With the theme: We Fight, We Win, Dr Ani added that, “We captured breast cancer campaign awareness in 9 Brigade forecast hence the premium we attached to it which is aimed at enhancing increased attention and support for the awareness, detection and treatment of the disease.”
In his remarks, the Commander, 9 Brigade, Brig Gen Musa Etsu-Ndagi called on women to live a healthy life-style; admonishing them to embrace exclusive breast feeding which invariably helps women in tackling breast cancer.
“The rate at which cancer is ravaging people demands that we take the problem of breast and cervical cancer seriously. I salute the courage of 9 Brigade Medical Centre for inculcating breast cancer awareness into their annual programme.
“It is better to go for early screening because cancer treatment is very expensive. Therefore, I encourage women to engage in more exercise and more domestic chores as alternative,” Etsu-Ndagi reiterated.
The sponsor, Dr Francesca Onyibe, admonished women to take advantage of screening exercise to check abnormalities in the cervics and breast, and at the same time, examine themselves about clinical breast examination.
“I have been doing this in the last four years and we call on private sector or individuals to sponsor women that are less privileged,” she reiterated.
Appreciating 9 Brigade Commander for bringing the awareness programme to the doorsteps of barracks women, Mrs Adunni Oladimijie, one of the participants said she was grateful to have had the opportunity to be enlightened about cervical and breast cancer.
“I am now conscious of my body and we are encouraged to go out and also encourage other women to go for self-examination and other medical screening. 9 Brigade has done so much for bringing this awareness to us free.
Another participant, Mrs Love Anyim noted that the awareness has brought a lot of information about the disease and by extension, “I am at a better stead to reachout to friends and better educate them on the need to take their breast seriously.”
On her part, the President Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA), Mrs Adesuwa Adebayo commended the organisers of the programme.
“This programme couldn’t have come at a better time considering the rate at which breast and cervical cancers are ravaging the women population. Unfortunately, a lot of women are not aware of a programme of this nature, early detection is key and therefore, women should go for regular check-up.”
During the one day awareness workshop held at the Officer’s Mess, the women in their large numbers were taken through some predisposing factors and other need-to-know about cancer.
Breast cancer, is a yearly campaign that intend to educate people about the importance of early screening, test and more. This campaign starts on October 1 and would end on October 31 every year.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/foundation-screens-300-women-for-free-breast-cervical-cancer-at-ikeja-cantonment/
About The Author
