The Fountain University, Osogbo, and the University of Cambridge have announced a cervical cancer outreach program for at least 600 women in the state.
During the flag-off event at the Fountain University, Osogbo, Professor Ramata Karim, the Vice Chancellor of Fountain University, emphasised that the outreach will take place at various locations across the state.
Sponsored by TreNd, University of Cambridge, the Vice Chancellor of the private institution, Fountain university, mentioned that the cervical cancer outreach is the second phase of a grant jointly secured by the two universities.
“The grant is valued at thousands of dollars, and the first phase involved the provision of equipment worth approximately N150 million to the university last year,” she stated.
“Over 600 women at different locations as been selected across the state both rural and urban areas including the local government.”
Meanwhile, a researcher at the Fountain University, Professor Nusrah Afolabi-Balogun who won the grant for the school emphasized on the need for early diagnosis, noting that cervical cancer can be treated once detected early.
Afolabi-Balogun said, “So early diagnosis, the screening that we are planning to do with this program is going to allow us to detect the causative agent of cervical cancer which is human papillomavirus, and once it’s detected then we can act and prevent the onset of cervical cancer.”
In a similar vein, Dr. Sarah Pensa from the United Kingdom, who won the grant alongside the Fountain University lecturer, urged women to go for frequent check-ups.
She stressed that doing so would help detect the causative agent and thereby allow for adequate treatment.
She said, “It depends a lot on the program and on the age of the women, but if you have a negative test, you probably can be safe for a few years and you probably will need to screen again as often as you can with any time around two to five years will really help detect it at the right time.”