This was contained in a statement signed by Busola Kukoyi, special adviser on media to the First Lady.

Tinubu emphasised that the initiative does not end with the introduction of the vaccine into the routine immunization schedule but there must be a focus on education and awareness about the virus.

The First Lady said regular screenings must be encouraged and there must be improved access to healthcare with behavioural interventions as well.

She noted: “For me, I will recommend that girls who are under 18 years of age and sexually active, avail themselves the opportunity of this vaccine, to avoid a future of ill-health and possibly, death.

“In conclusion, I want to emphasize that the introduction of the HPV vaccine into our routine immunization schedule is a significant step forward in our mission to protect the health and future of our nation’s womenfolk and it will lead to a structured and systematic way of achieving a cervical cancer free generation.”

She noted that the initiative goes beyond preventing cervical cancer but also demonstrates the commitment of the administration of President Bola Tinubu GCFR’s administration to gender equity and empowering women to take control of their health.

Speaking earlier, the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof, Mohammed Ali Pate emphasized that the vaccine is safe, effective, and already in use in several countries of the world.

He stated: “No father or mother who really understands they can prevent a serious disease will stop their daughters from taking the vaccine, except they really do not understand.”

In their goodwill messages, the Sultan of Sokoto, health sector partners, and others, said the introduction of the vaccine will go a long way to enhance the health of the female folk in the country.

The First Lady later supervised the administration of the vaccine on the girls present at the event.

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Buratai raised this concern at the Public Presentation and Launch of a book titled: ‘NADAMA’, authored by Fatima Usara, Head of Public Affairs, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), in Abuja.

The former army chief quoted Prof. Oliver Ezechi, the Director of Research at NIMR, as saying that an estimated 36 million Nigerian women aged 15 and above, are at risk of acquiring cervical cancer.

Burutai said that every day, 33 new cervical cancer cases and 22 deaths were recorded in Nigeria due to the disease, making it the second most common cancer amongst women in Nigeria and the fourth most frequent malignancy in women globally.

He also highlighted that cervical cancer was one of the major causes of cancer mortality among women in 36 countries, including Nigeria.

Burutai, who emphasised the importance of preventative measures, commended the author of ‘NADAMA’ for her efforts in sensitising people on cervical cancer and other health issues.

He urged Nigerians, especially parents, women and youths, to read the book, which was written in a dramatic and intriguing style that kept the reader in suspense.

He noted that the right to health indicators focused on five crucial areas, including sexual and reproductive health, child mortality and healthcare, the natural and work environment, preventing, treating and controlling diseases, as well as access to health facilities and necessary medicines.

Buratai, who is Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, praised ‘NADAMA’ for addressing all these areas in a unique and innovative way.

Earlier, the Chief Medical Director, Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Prof. Ahmed Ahidjo, noted that the cost of managing cancer was very expensive, adding that prevention is the best approach.

He praised the book for providing education and enlightenment, hoping that it will help reduce the prevalence of cervical cancer in northern Nigeria.

Ahidjo recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari recently inaugurated a modern cancer centre in Maiduguri to serve the most vulnerable and hard to reach communities in the North East region.

He noted that before the centre was constructed, there was no radiotherapy facility for the treatment of cancer in the region, which has a population of over 30 million people.

He expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for the investment, and hoped that it would solve the healthcare problems in the region.

Ahidjo, who advised that the book should be read carefully as an educational material, suggested that it should be kept in schools, universities, libraries and hospitals across the country.

According to him, healthcare providers have much to benefit from it.

On his part, the former Chairman of NAHCON, Malam Abdullahi Mukhtar, also lauded the commitment of the author in contributing to finding solution to one of the medical challenges of women in spite of her official and domestic tight schedules.

Mukhtar urged the guests, NGOs and and philanthropists to support and encourage writer to enable her provide more services to the society.

Malam Muhammad Tola, the representative of Independent Hajj Reporters (IHR), a civil society organisation promoting quality Hajj and Umrah services, camvassed for the translation of ‘NADAMA’ into other languages to facilate understanding of the message.

Tola therefore challenged the author, Kaduna State University and willing sponsors to help translate and act the book into English, Igbo and Yoruba languages for global acceptability.

In his remark, the Chairman of NAHCON, Alhaji Zikrullah Hassan, praised the book, saying it captures how cervical cancer can be eliminated as a public health problem.

Hassan, who described ‘NADAMA’ as a drama that educates and informs, commended the author for her initiative in writing such a book.

On her part, the author (Usara) expressed optimism that the book would help protect women from the painful death of cervical cancer and encouraged other women to join her in the fight against cervical cancer.

She expressed gratitude to those who attended the event and acknowledged the late Dr Mardiya Zayyan for encouraging her to write the book and attributed it to her as a charity for imparting knowledge on her.

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Mrs. Buhari understands that the role of women in every society cannot be over emphasized, therefore, their health and well being should be enhanced in order for them to make meaningful contribution both in political and economic participation for national development. She has for many years made her contribution in this regard through the Aisha Buhari Foundation.

Her realization of the depth of health challenges faced by women and children prompted her to found a platform called Future Assured. Through this platform, she has been travelling from state to state across the country to build partnerships with stakeholders, and to contribute in providing an enabling environment for the implementation of basic public health programmes and awareness creation on health issues.

As a result of the partnerships she has entered into, it became easier to identify what health problem is prevalent in each state, and what contribution a platform like hers can offer. Future Assured has so far identified many of these medical problems which are women killers.

These include breast cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, malaria, and sickle cell anaemia. The morbidity and mortality rate is very high in the country due to these preventable diseases.

Diabetes is one of the critical health challenges identified, it is a chronic disease of high blood glocuse which can result in serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves. Cases have been on the increase in the past few years.

In Nigeria, about five million people are still living with diabetes, while more than 1.5 million cases of diabetes were recorded in 2015. Also, 40,815 deaths due to diabetes were recorded in adults in 2016. These figures are sure to drop with adequate awareness, especially among those that are vulnerable.

Another women killer is Cancer. In Nigeria about 10,000 cancer deaths and 250,000 new cases are recorded annually. Cancer results from abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to spread to other part of the body. There are many types of cancer. But of all the types, breast and cervical cancer affect women the most.

Take breast cancer, for example; the first notable symptom of breast cancer is a lump that feels different from the rest of the breast tissue; one breast becoming larger or lower than the other; a nipple changing position or its shape becoming inverted. There could also be some discharge from the nipples, or constant pain in parts of the breast, or even rashes on or around a nipple.

Screening of the breast regularly can help in early detection which, in-turn will help achieve early prevention. The mission of Future Assured is to alert women to be conscious of their bodies and train themselves to perform simple self-examination of their breast in order to stay safe.

Cervical cancer is another type that affects the cervix. It has no early symptoms; later symptoms may however include vaginal bleeding. Therefore, cervical cancer screening would help in early detection using Pap smear or acetic acid, quick intervention usually prevents its spread.

Late detection in both types of cancer is still a major challenge, Therefore awareness creation is still the way out.

Hepatitis, sickle cell and other related ailments are blood-related. It is therefore important that people have knowledge of their genotype. Genotype is the collection of genes passed from parents to children. In order to avoid these killer diseases, it has been advised that couples check their genotype before marriage; this will help them avoid having children who may live very sick lives or even die in infancy. Parents should also check the genotype of their children during pregnancy and also after birth.

High blood pressure also known as hypertension is another killer that puts people at the risk of stroke and kidney failure. The disease is on the rise in Nigeria and is a massive killer. The major challenge of hypertension is that people are not aware of the necessity for, or cannot afford regular blood pressure checks.

Another is Malaria, which is endemic in Nigeria with 300,000 deaths per year and 100 million cases. Nigeria bears up to 25% of malaria disease burden in Africa, making the country the highest in malaria mortality. Malaria is a treatable and preventable disease that remains a major killer of children. Malaria in pregnant women causes anemia and other complications in both mother and newborn. Malaria is caused by blood parasites from person to person through the bites of infected mosquitoes.

It is because of the gravity of these diseases that Future Assured decided to advocate for government to pay more attention to these killers, and to conscientize women on the need to understand the danger of these diseases and screen themselves from time to time.

In order to show example to the stakeholders and pass the message to women, screening exercises were planned, organized and conducted in states, in collaboration with local NGOs. So far, screenings have held in eight states; these are Cross River, Adamawa, Katsina, Enugu, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo and Kogi. It is intended that such screenings will hold in all states of the country.

In consideration of the important of the sense of sight, and the rate at which people are becoming blind, Eye examination was included in the list of ailments for which women were screened. Doctors have recommended tests at least every 2 years. The Eye examination provides accurate assessment of the ability to see, and gauges the general health of the eyes. Eye examination can result in early identification of other eye -related problems.

In each of the states listed above, an average of 2000 women have benefitted from these screening exercises; and these are bound to change their own lives and the lives of their friends, spouses and children. Gradually, the practice of self-screening will become the norm, while the number of women lost to these killers will drop considerably.

In fact, Mrs. Buhari has secured two mobile clinics in order to ease access to the most difficult to reach areas around the FCT for the purpose of these health screenings. The plan is to have these mobile clinics deployed to all the six geo-political zones of the country.
When this happens, Future Assured and Mrs. Aisha Buhari would have succeeded in their purpose of making a difference in the lives of women in Nigeria.

* Aisha Bunu writes from the Office of the Wife of the President

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This was made known at the end of a three-day enlightenment campaign
which was carried out at Arepo community in Ifo Local Government Area
of Ogun State, recently.

The beauty of the partnership, the Executive Director of HEDEN, Mrs.
Folasade Ofurune, said, was the inclusion of the screen-and-treat
options carried out by SFH during the enlightenment campaign.

During the three days programme, no fewer than 74 women participated
Of the 74 women who were tested, 28 were found to be positive and
treated immediately.

Speaking at the session with participants, Ofurune explained that the
campaign against the killer disease was intensified because of the
fact that it could be avoided if adequate information were made
available on how best to avoid it.

She added that her organisation had found many women in the hard-to-reach areas very vulnerable to the disease because of ignorance.

“No woman should die of cervical cancer in this day and age, yet each year more than 260,000 women do, mostly in low-income countries and underserved communities.

“In order to stem the death of women and girls from cervical cancer,
and rekindle the lost hope of many women, HEDEN has strengthened its
partnership with Society for Family Health, SFH, by embarking on a
3-day awareness, screening and treatment programme at Arepo community,
Ifo local government area of Ogun State.”

Ofurune said early detection and treatment of the disease had been
found to be useful in the presentation of untimely death hence the
efforts of the two groups.

The HEDEN boss who spoke on how best to avoid the disease, highlighted
the risk factors which could lead HPV to result in full cervical
cancer include “multiple sexual partners, early age at first sex,
early childbirth (earlier than 18); sexually transmitted infection
(STIs) eg Chlamydia, HIV and AIDS, smoking and use of tobacco, low
immune system, history of many births and poor personal genital
hygiene.”

The representative of SFH, Abiodun corroborated Ofurune and
advised that cervical cancer should be prevented through early
detection screening.

According to her, most women are unaware of the disease and few that
are aware have failed to pay attention to it.

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The advice was given by the Executive Director of the organization, Folasade Ofurune, during an awareness programme by the organization at Ijoko-Lemode area, Ifo local government area of Ogun State at the weekend.

Also, the organization urged parents to vaccinate their children, boys and girl, pointing out that cervical cancer is preventable by receiving the Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine before first sex from age 11 or above.

Ofurune described cervical cancer as a fatal disease if left unrecognized and untreated and further stated that it is very important for every woman to undergo regular cervical screening to detect abnormalities.

“Regular cervical smear testing through pap’s test or screening with low cost methods using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) are the most effective ways of detecting cervical abnormalities, which may be the early signs of the disease,” she said.

She expressed confidence that with the support of SFH, screening of women aged between 25 and 60 years will continue in order to diagnose women during the long pre-cancerous phase.

The Executive Director, Ofurune, said the intense campaign in the less developed communities was carried out as a result of the high mortality from cervical cancer.

The awareness programme which was taken to a faith-based women group in Abule-Ijoko, Ogun State, was supported by Society for Family Health, SFH.

The programme included talks, video presentations on symptoms of cervical cancer, its progression, stories of how early detection saves lives, question and answer session and eventual screening and treatment of women who tested positive.

Many of the women who attended the campaign expressed surprise at the subtle signs and symptoms of cervical cancer, stating that they had never heard about cervical cancer before and expressed their appreciation to HEDEN and SFH for bringing the programme to hard-to-reach communities at the grassroots.

Cervical cancer is the commonest genital cancer killing women especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the second commonest cancer affecting women in Nigeria. Globally, every two minutes a woman dies from cervical cancer and it is prevalent but not exclusive to the sexually active women in the reproductive (childbearing) years.

According ICO Information Center on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) there are 14,089 cervical cancer cases and 8,240 deaths in Nigeria annually.

The national burden of cervical cancer is high which indicates a great need for awareness, early detection and treatment.

HEDEN envision a world, in which communication saves lives, improves health and enhances well being.
Ofurune said that with the support of Society for Family Health, HEDEN would continue the campaign next year (2017) by extending it to many more communities.

Group and individual counselling were provided by Society for Family Health before and after the cervical screening exercise. The screening was conducted free of charge for women aged 25 – 60 years.
During the programme, about nine positive cases were treated.

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