Obasanjo becomes presidential ambassador for cervical cancer

Obasanjo becomes presidential ambassador for cervical cancer

Wednesday, July 14, 2021 9:31 pm


Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (third from right) and the team from Global Oncology (GO).

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (third from right) and the team from Global Oncology (GO).

Adejoke Adeleye, Abeokuta
Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has been appointed the Presidential Ambassador for Cervical Cancer Free Nigeria Campaign.
Obasanjo was appointed to lead the campaign against cervical cancer in Nigeria children by Global Oncology (GO).
Chief Obasanjo, while addressing the delegate who came to confirm him as the presidential ambassador for the campaign at his Pent House in Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta,Ogun State said that his first responsibility is advocacy because the disease that can kill and that is killing women, but it can be prevented.
He added that vaccine for the cancer which is called HPV is available and has been available for more than 15 years.
But he added that the issue of availability and affordability of the vaccine must also be considered, noting that there should be a policy at the national and at the State level about making the vaccine available.
He said, “Vaccine was not there when I was in government, if it was, it wasn’t brought to my notice because, then we would have had a policy. Now we should appeal to government at national and State levels to have a policy for this particular type of things which is eradicating this decease which is preventable and treatable. That must be part of our responsibility as ambassadors.
“How do we get all these three or four points that are important – availability, accessibility and affordability?
“Polio was not left to government alone, but the first thing that was done was the policy, government had a policy and government used all the available means – traditional rulers, native doctors, women, community leaders, civil societies, development partners, private sector and every resource available even vaccine manufacturers, we used all the available resources.
“What gladdens my heart initially is that, cervical cancer is not like malaria and the reason why we haven’t as much in malaria fight is that it is only located in our part of the world, it is something that affects the temperate zones of the world.
“But this one, it affects black and white, so they will make sure that whatever research they are making, is focused on women all over the world.”
He, however. implore Nigerian scientists to do more research as regarding what kind of vaccine will suit the people.
“Our own scientists have their own role to play, because there maybe variants of the virus that are particular to our own people. And if that is the case we have to get the vaccine that will deal with our own variants of this virus.
“We should make it clear that the vaccine is free of any adverse effect and in fact, rather than stop children production, it encourage it.”
Obasanjo promise that he will always campaign against Cervical cancer everywhere he goes and whenever given opportunity to talk since he has been made the campaign president.
The group has earlier explained that the Cervical Cancer-Free Nigeria (CCFN) campaign was launched in 2019 as a grassroots initiative to eliminate cervical cancer in Nigeria because the vaccine to combat the disease has been in existence for about 15years now.
According to Senator Lanre Tejuosho, the chairman of the campaign, cervical cancer  kills over 8,000 women yearly,therefore every girl child between the age of 9-15 are expected to be vaccinated before becoming victim and time achieve this there must be a lot of campaign.
“A lot of Funding need to be committed to it to get it to Nigeria, that is why the foundation needs commitment from government,,traditional institutions. In fact every sector and stakeholders needs to be involved urgently.”
He said it is not only Covid-19 that needs urgent vaccine, but cervical cancer as well in order for our girls to be free from dying, adding that  boys too needs to be vaccinated because they are the carrier of this disease so they will not transfer it to the girls through sex.
CCFN is co-led by Global Oncology (GO), a  non-profit foundation and the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL) led by Distinguished Senator Lanre Tejuosho.
The campaign has two main objectives: Generate demand for the HPV vaccine (Which is known to effectively prevent cervical cancer) by educating adolescents, their families, and the wider public about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine using innovative educational tools and related media products.
Increase supply of the HPV vaccine by facilitating discussions between relevant stakeholders and providing technical assistance to ensure long-term, national-scale procurement and distribution of the HPV vaccine.
Among the delegates are :1st Lady of Kebbi State Dr. Shinkafi – Bagudu who was spoken with on phone, Chief Abimbola Ogunbanjo (President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange) Dr Tomi Coker,  Commissioner for Health Ogun State, Prof Akin Abayomi and Mr Patrick Doyle, among others.

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