The Federal Government has set up a committee to implement the Cancer Health Fund which is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Health aimed at providing cancer treatment to indigent Nigerians and strengthen national cancer care.
The Director-General of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Dr Usman Aliyu, disclosed this at an interactive session organised by the institute in collaboration with the International Society of Media on Public Health in on Saturday.
The initiative commenced in 2021 with six pilot hospitals – the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, the National Hospital, Abuja; the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe; the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; and the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
The government had in the 2024 appropriation about N200m for the treatment of indigent cancer patients as part of the Cancer Health Fund.
According to data from the Global Cancer Observatory, there were 127,763 new cancer cases and 79,542 deaths in 2022 with breast cancer accounting for an estimated 25.3 percent followed by prostate cancer with 14.1 per cent, cervical cancer with 10.7 per cent while colorectum cancer accounted for 6.4 per cent.
The government had in the 2024 appropriation act N200m for the treatment of indigent cancer patients as part of the CHF.