About 102,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed annually in Nigeria. More than 70 percent die from the disease.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute is taking significant steps to try to change those numbers.
Roswell officials announced a partnership with the Lakeshore Cancer Center in Nigeria on Tuesday that will hopefully bring first-rate care to cancer patients in Africa. Roswell faculty provide Lakeshore oncologists with further clinical training and professional education. Candace Johnson, president and CEO of Roswell Park, said it’s Roswell’s purpose and responsibility to help improve cancer treatment globally.
“We should be reaching outside of our borders to help establish first-rate care in places where they don’t have it,” Johnson said.
While HIV, malaria and tuberculosis are common and deadly diseases globally, Dr. Chumy Nwogu, interim chair of thoracic surgery at Roswell, said cancer tops them all.
“But more people die from cancer than all of those three combined, globally,” he said. “Low-to-middle income countries carry a proportionally greater burden of death from cancer. It’s very appropriate for us to be doing this.”
Dr. Nwogu said it’s very important for patients to be treated near their home, rather than having to travel to another country for proper treatment.
“When you’re being treated for cancer, it’s so much greater to be in own environment, around your family because there’s a lot more emotional support,” he said. “That is one of the benefits of having a center locally in Nigeria that can provide Roswell Park-like care.”
Roswell hopes this partnership will help the Nigerian center diagnose cancer much earlier. Between 80 and 85 percent of Nigerian women diagnosed with breast cancer get their diagnosis in stage 3, which is usually too late.
Lakeshore is in its first year of treating cancer victims and is the only cancer center in Nigeria, an African country of about 175 million people.
