By Peregba Jerry
The Federal Government says it has made new policy plans for cancer survivors to be catered to adequately.
The Director-General, National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Dr Usman Aliyu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
According to him, the plan is contained in one of the three cancer policies aimed at aiding cancer prevention and treatment in Nigeria the Federal Government will inaugurate soon.
He said the institute has, since its establishment in January, been working on the policies that are expected to ensure that prevention, treatment and research into all cancer issues are put on the front burner.
“We have drafted our second National Strategic Cancer Control Plan. The first one that was ever drafted for the country was for 2018 to 2022 which has expired, but I’m happy to announce to you that the institute has drafted a new cancer plan.
“It is a five-year plan that will span from 2023 to 2027 and that is all encompassing. The plan will be a leading guide to all the activities of cancer in the country and it cuts across the area of cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care and even survivorship for the first time.
“We are having this component of cancer survivorship in our plan for survivors, which is actually a neglected area,” he said.
Aliyu also said the institute has finalised work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners to develop the nation’s first National Cervical Cancer Control plan 2023-2027.
He said the plan would give direction the institute intends to follow in agenda of WHO in the elimination of cervical cancer by 2030.
He also said being a research institute, research was a very strong component of NICRAT, but that it could not just dive into it without having an agenda.
“So we have drafted the first National Cancer Research Agenda 2024-2028 for the country that will give way and pave a direction for cancer research in Nigeria”, he said.(NAN)
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