The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health has pledged its support for a leadership program aimed at empowering women in oncology to adequately tackle cancer in the society.
This move is driven by the understanding that women play a vital role in advancing healthcare for women, particularly in the fight against breast and cervical cancer, which are the most common types of cancer affecting women in Nigeria.
Speaking to journalists at the sideline interview at the launch of the Leadership Programme for Women in Oncology(LPWO), the Head of the National Cancer Control and Nuclear Medcine Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Uchechukwu Emmanuel Nwokwu, said, the ministry recognizes the importance of preventive measures, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, in reducing the incidence of cancer.
Leadership Programme for Women in Oncology (LPWO), is an initiative by the City Cancer Challenge Foundation (C/Can) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to equip women oncologists in low- and middle-income countries with essential leadership skills to drive transformative change in cancer care.
While speaking further, Nwokwu noted that despite the success of the vaccination program, some women have been hesitant to participate due to misconceptions about the vaccine.
Nwokwu said, “By supporting women in leadership roles in oncology, the government hopes to increase the uptake of the vaccine and other cancer prevention services.
“The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, a woman herself, has been instrumental in driving positive change in the oncology space.
“Her passion and leadership have yielded significant results, surpassing those of her predecessors.
“The ministry’s four-point agenda, which focuses on improving governance, population outcomes, value chain, and health technology, also aligns with the goals of the leadership program.
“By supporting this initiative, the government aims to enhance the uptake of cancer care services, including vaccination, screening, and early detection.
“The ministry is confident that empowering women in oncology leadership roles will have a positive impact on the country’s efforts to prevent and control cancer.”
Also speaking, the Regional Director, Africa and Europe, City Cancer Challenge Foundation(C/Can), Sophie Bussmann-Kemdjo, while speaking on the leadership programme, disclosed that the Foundation’s focus is on women’s power and cancer to showcase how much having women being more inclusive with women in workforce could also contribute to outcome for patients.
She added that in response to that, coming back to the Nigerian context, Nigeria is not any different in terms of how this can be benefiting.
“The cohort, of course, it’s a cohort that started with 10 women. So we have 10 women from the previous cohort. This cohort is another 10 women that will be participating in it.
“We’re just launching the program today, the second cohort today. And there is a lot of needs in Nigeria in terms of, in most countries. It’s not Africa specific, Nigeria specific.
“The cohort has women from Latin America, from Asia and Eastern Europe, because this is a global challenge that we are addressing.
“That challenge was also a pledge that led us to the Clinton Global Initiative platform in New York, where we launched it for 10 million funds for seven years, where we will be actually also scaling and listening, implementing solutions that will address this issue of gender gap.
“We’re coming to say we have identified this in the work that we do in the cities through our engagement process, when we do the due diligence and when we also meet with our professional.
“We have also seen it at the global space where we are saying the land set that is a very respectable commission for the women power and cancer,” she said.
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