Madukwe, the National Vice-President, Society for Cellular Pathology of Nigeria (SCPSN), made the plea on the sidelines of the 4th Annual National Conference of the society in Lagos.
The theme of the conference is: “The Prevalence and Lifetime Economic Burden of Prostate Cancer in Nigeria.’’
He said studies have shown that more than 80 per cent of men would have prostate cancer by the time they reach 80 years.
“Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death amongst men around the world, especially the black population.
“The rates of prostate cancer vary widely across the world like in Europe, North America, Africa and New Zealand.
“Prostate cancer is the least common among Asian men and most common among black men.
“We decided to talk about prostate cancer because lots of men still need to know more about it and early detection is very important.
“People need to be enlightened in every diagnosis of any health ailment, particularly prostate cancer.
“Early detection of prostate cancer helps to reduce the risk, economic burden and stress from the family,” Madukwe said.
Also, Ms Habibat Audu, a medical laboratory scientist, said that early detection of any cancer could be achieved through periodic screening tests.
Audu, who is the chairperson of the conference, said that periodic screening tests help to detect and provide services to improve the health of prostate cancer patients.
“Our health should be taken seriously as the statistics of those people with cancer is on the increase.
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“The main reason our association is in collaboration with Amuwo Odofin to carry out free screening test for people in the community.
“The treatment of prostate cancer is very expensive, so we need to create more awareness for people, especially men to know that prostate cancer do exist,” she said.
Audu said that some of the signs of prostate cancer, which men should look out for were burning or pain during urination, difficulty urinating, blood in urine and loss of bladder control.
In his remarks, Mr Valentine Buraimoh, Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Festac, appealed to private organisations to partner with governments in the health sector to save more lives.
Buraimoh said that governments, especially Lagos State Government were doing a lot concerning health issues, adding that more still needs to be done by collaborating with the private sector.
“Due to the economic issues in Nigeria, lots of people need to have free access to primary health care in Lagos State.
“In Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, we run 24 hours in all our primary health care services which provide free access to screening test, registration and health professionals.
“We are trying to invest more in our health services, so as not to congest Amuwo Odofin Maternal and Child Centre, Festac,” he said.
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