By Jimoh Sulyman
The founder of Wellbeing Foundation Africa and the former First lady of Kwara state, Her Excellency Toyin Ojora Saraki, has clamoured for better global alliance in the fight against cancer.
Saraki made the call while speaking at the launch of The Bricon Foundationโs new
fundraising campaign โE Fit B uโ to raise 50 Million Naira for cancer patient treatment, a fundraiser held in Lagos, on Sunday, 20th of March.
In her address as the keynote speaker, Mrs Saraki said that cancer has been a cause of numerous global death, being the cause of one in six deaths , hence there is an urgent need for more health workers to be trained, deployed and retained at all levels to provide equitable specialist quality care.
She also disclosed that her foundation, Wellbeing Foundation Africa Cancer Alliance initiated in 2018 is collaborating across board to improve Nigeriaโs nursing and midwifery education to contribute to Nigeriaโs Cancer Control and Treatment Strategy.
Her speech goes thus, โCancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly one in six deaths, and with a new case of cancer being diagnosed every 2 seconds, changing lives completely. In 2018, myself and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, commissioned the Report of the Rapid Assessment of Cancer Care in Nigeria by The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) on behalf of Amref Health Africa. As the statistics prove, cancer is a personal story for all of us, with us all being affected.โ
โThree key areas of nursing and midwifery are likely to make a significant contribution to achieving SDG3 – Health and Wellbeing in Nigeria. These areas are mental health, oncology, and maternal newborn health.โ
โWith the 2030 target of the Sustainable Development Goals approaching fast, the targets of SDG3 will only be achieved if frontline health workers, especially nurses, midwives and community health workers, are trained, deployed and retained at all levels to provide equitable specialist quality careโ
โThe Wellbeing Foundation Africa Cancer Alliance initiated in 2018 in collaboration with regional partners Amref Health Africa is committed to increasing engagement with key stakeholders and experts in the focal fields to define recommendations that can be implemented to improve Nigeriaโs nursing and midwifery education to contribute to Nigeriaโs Cancer Control and Treatment Strategyโ.
โThe battle of closing the cancer care gap requires a holistic approach, including increasing the awareness about the disease; educating on screening and early diagnosis; training and retraining of relevant health workers; and infrastructure upgrade in our facilities across the country. We may not cure cancer today, but we can contribute to the battle against it by doing what we can to support closing the care gap todayโ she stated.
Saraki, the Inaugural Global Health Ambassador, WHO Foundation, joined the Bricon Foundation, Co-founders Dr Niyi Adekeye and Mrs Abigail Simon-Hart, Trustee Mrs Sonja Ally and special guest Dr Adamu Umar, President of the Nigerian Cancer Society among others at the event.
Abigail Simon-Hart, Co-Founder of the Foundation praised Mrs Saraki for her selfless effort and commitment towards helping her foundation to achieve their objective.
She said, โToyinโs contribution to the Bricon Foundationโs target of Raising 50 million Naira is an incredible beginning to our journey in realising our mission.
“Her energy and deep commitment to educating, advocating and fundraising for cancer care makes a critical difference on the global health stage.
“Her, and her Wellbeing Foundation Africaโs pledge will make sure cancer patients, survivors and their families are supported in all stages of this disease. We are very grateful.โ Simon-Hart noted.
