PPB celebrates Prof Ifeoma at 70 blueprint.ng - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from blueprint.ng Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
• Patients with cancer face reduced access to care, competition for scarce resources
• Breast cancer costs N18m out-of-pocket for initial treatment
• About 200 Nigerians die every day from cancer, with 32 from breast cancer, 28 from cervical cancer, 16 from prostate cancer, 14 from liver cancer
As nations mark World Cancer Day today, there are concerns that COVID-19 has further reduced the chances of survival of cancer patients.
Reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and cancer experts indicate that COVID-19 raises death risk in cancer patients.
UICC, in a paper published, yesterday, in the medical journal, The Lancet Oncology, ahead of the World Cancer Day titled “Cancer burden, finance, and health-care systems” said less prevention, delayed treatment and suspended early detection programmes and diagnoses, caused by COVID-19, could lead to a higher number of deaths from cancer in months and years to come.