‘Support For Children With Cancer Low In Nigeria’

EXPERTS in the treatment of childhood cancer have criticised the abysmal support being given to the care and management of the disease among children affected by the condition.

Speaking in Lagos recently during an event organised by Children Living With Cancer Foundation (CLWCF) to raise awareness on cases of childhood cancer, Founder of CLWCF, Dr Nneka Nwobbi, a paediatrician, stated that “there are no charities for cancer, but we have children who come in without their parents knowing that they have cancer. As a result, they come in late”.

She added that there is a great need to raise awareness so that people would know that “children do have cancer. Cancer is curable if detected early and given the right treatment.”

However, Nwobbi stated that support for children with cancer is abysmal. “It is very low, only very few people act as monthly donors,” she said. “We only have a few people coming in to help.”

The rally, which took off at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Lagos, was attended by children, medical practitioners and nurses.

A paediatric hematologist and oncologist at LUTH, Prof. Edamisan Temiye, stated that childhood cancer is very common. “Childhood cancer is not a rare thing. In developed countries, childhood cancer is a fast killer of children even more than pneumonia and diarrhoea. But there are especially dedicated hospitals for this. In Nigeria and other developing countries, it is believed that it is even more rampant, but it is often detected late or treatments are not very effective. In LUTH, we have a whole ward dedicated to children who have cancer. So, it is not a case of have you heard of Nigerian children having cancer.”

On symptoms of childhood cancer, Temiye said cancer could occur in any part of the body. “When a child has cat eyes reflex (similar to when the eyes of a cat shines at night), it may be a sign that the child has cancer. When a child complains of headache too often, which is worst in the morning and accompanied by vomiting, it could be a sign of cancer.

“Sudden swelling on the head or any part of the body which is not often painful at first, but keeps growing, or a child having pain in the lymph, since not all pains are associated with sickle cell, you may want to check it out. A child is often very sick, requiring blood transfusion very often, it is a sign of cancer of the blood. Signs could be anywhere depending on where the cancer is growing.”

Temiye however warned that people should be careful because “there are people who do not want people to live” and therefore label almost everything as carcinogenic.

“In developed countries, you see support from government in area of research and care for people living with cancer, but in Nigeria, there is no support,” Temiye lamented.

Chidera, a 15-year-old girl who survived cancer, said she was diagnosed with cancer at age 12 when she slumped and fell in the bathroom, a situation which led to her leg being amputated. “I wish to be a doctor so that I can help people. I don’t want their condition to go bad like mine,” she said.