Idowu Abdullahi
Senior physicians have revealed reasons why more Nigerian women are being diagnosed with cervical cancer, linking it to the consequences of decades without vaccination.
Aside from the years of unvaccination, they also identified low screening among women of age, late presentation, and low awareness among drivers of rising cases of cervical cancer in the country.
According to the experts, limited access to screening, poor uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine, and persistent socio-cultural barriers are major factors fuelling the increasing diagnosis rate across the country.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women and led to the death of 350,000 women in 2022, according to the World Health Organisation.
It is caused by the Human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection that affects the skin, genital area, and throat.
The WHO notes that persistent HPV infection of the cervix, which is the lower part of the uterus or womb that opens into the vagina if left untreated, causes 95 per cent of cervical cancers.
The United Nations said cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in Nigeria and the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths among women aged between 15 and 44 years.
In 2020, Nigeria recorded 12,000 new cases and 8,000 deaths from cervical cancer.
However, speaking exclusively to PUNCH Healthwise in commemoration of the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day, the experts also said early sexual activity and multiple sexual partners are predisposing factors for cervical cancer.
They noted that although cervical cancer is one of the most preventable forms of the disease globally, many women often seek medical attention only when the disease has progressed, reducing their chances of survival and increasing treatment costs for families.
A Professor of Radiation Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Ifeoma Okoye, said that while Nigeria has, in recent years, put cervical cancer on the national agenda, the rising cases are directly the result of actions not taken earlier.
Okoye, who is also the Director of UNN’s Centre of Excellence for Clinical Trials, said that the women being diagnosed fall into the category of those who were not vaccinated in their early growing years.
According to her, the women filling our clinics today in their 30s, 40s, and 50s did not grow up with HPV vaccination.
“Their current disease reflects infections acquired 10, 20, or even 25 years ago. Today’s vaccination drive will protect the younger cohort; it will not immediately erase the burden on women who were exposed long before the programme began.
“Screening is still not reaching women at the scale or regularity we need. Even where awareness has improved, economic constraints, fear of a cancer diagnosis, stigma around gynecological examinations, and competing demands on women’s time all push screening to the bottom of the list,” the don said.
Credit: Punch
