Expert urges authorities to enact Policies to prevent Breast, Cervical Cancer

Medical Director, Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Femi Olaleye calls on government at all levels to enact policy, that will prevent cancers of the breast and cervix 

He made the call during the free screening for breast and cervical cancers for female journalists in Lagos.

At the screening, which was organised by the Foundation in collaboration with Stanbic IBTC Bank in commemoration of the Global Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Dr Olayeye said that “cervical cancer was the number three highest killer of women, after breast and lump cancers, hence, the need to address such medical challenge.”

There is a policy that supported the screening of all women in Europe, hence, the death resulting from cervical cancer remained minimal in the area. he stated,

”Every woman in England gets a letter to come and do cervical screening test. Every woman has a General Practitioner (GP) and every GP has a list of women.

The medical practitioner said that factually, all cervical cancers were caused by a virus called Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and women contact it only through sex.

He said that the use of condom during sex does not prevent the transmission of this virus, as it could be found not just on the penis but around the genitals.

Dr Olayeye further stated that, cervical cancer could be prevented by regular screening and vaccination, adding that the vaccination had been recommended for women and girls from 10 years.

On breast cancer, the expert said that every female with a pair of breast stands a risk of contacting it and men could also develop breast cancer but it was rare. He went on to say, breast cancer can be hereditary and can be caused by unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, poor diet, excess intake of alcohol and overweight.

Dr. Olaleye stated that statistics have shown that people of colour had a higher risk of breast and prostrate cancers, compared to Caucasians.

However, Dr. Olaleye urged women to engage in regular self-breast examination, as this might help an early detection of any abnormality he added “this will aid ones chances of survival, if quickly and medically attended to.” He also called on women to do mammogram from time to time to ascertain if there was lump in the breast and if the lump was cancerous.

According to him, 80 per cent of lumps found in women’s breasts during mammogram are not cancerous.

Dr. Olaleye also emphasized the need for continuous awareness creation as this will enable people and women especially to have information and can get medical attention promptly.