NOA urges Health Ministry to support cervical cancer awareness campaign

THE Director-General of National Orientation Agency, Dr. Garba Abari, has called on the Federal Ministry of Health to support the awareness campaign on cervical cancer in the nation.

During the health activity organized by NOA in Abuja,  the directors and staff of the agency conducted a health walk to create cervical cancer awareness.

Garba in his address reiterated the purpose of the walk and awareness and made it clear of the intentions and task that lies ahead for the Ministry of health.

“Our mission here is to kill 2 birds with one stone; they say a stitch in time saves nine. So we are here to task the ministry of health and other health services providers to come out and support this course and also embark on the cervical cancer awareness campaign.”

“According to experts, cervical cancer when detected early will not only be prevented but it can be cured, that is why we urge the Federal Ministry of Health to give free screening and  treatement to Nigerians.”

However, The federal Minister of Health who was represented by Dr. Joseph Amedu, thanked the NOA for the bold gesture and promised to show more support during and after the course of the awareness campaign.

Amedu said, “Cervical cancer is a major disease. So, we thank NOA for this committment. We promise to continue to show our support and we will not stop until cervical cancer is permanently eliminated from Nigeria.

“We have a lot of activities going on to eliminate cervical cancer, we have put up guidelines and policies for people to follow in this prevention and awareness.”

Amedu also revealed that there were facilities already put in place for the control and treatment of cervical cancer.

“The federal ministry has developed several cancer service points and we want people to utilise these faclities. We have also given out free slots to the first 30 people who will get down to the cancer treatement centre, where they will receive free screening and treatment,” he said.