The federal government has expressed concern over the increasing rate of breast cancer in the country and urged women to go for regular screening.

Health minister Osagie Ehanire said reports from the Nigerian National System of Cancer Registries showed that breast cancer in Nigeria increased significantly between 1960 and 2016.

“Between 1960 and 1969 only 13.7 percent out of 100,000 women in Nigeria had breast cancer; the figure rose to 24.7 per cent women out of 100,000 women between 1990 and 1999,” Mr. Ehanire told a gathering at the international cancer week programme. “An average of 26.1 per cent in 100,000 women in the country had breast cancer between 2000 and 2016.”

Mr. Ehanire stated that the gory statistics shows that cancer has become a serious disease of public health concern in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the health ministry’s permanent secretary Abdulaziz Abdullahi said more than 70,000 persons die from cancer in Nigeria annually.

He said this was further compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health system.

“Cancer invariably contributed to the number of mortalities at the wake of the pandemic because the patients are more at risk of being seriously ill or dying if they develop COVID-19 infection,” the official said.

Activities planned for the cancer week were expected to spur and galvanise action by all stakeholders towards the prevention of cancer and COVID-19 infection among cancer patients in Nigeria.

“Prevention, early detection of COVID-19 infection and prompt intervention is critical for the survival of cancer patients in the COVID-19 era and beyond,’’ Mr. Abdullahi said.