The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, says cancer is the leading cause of death among Nigerian women.
Adewole said this at the inauguration of some state projects alongside Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, and the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi (II) at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital in Kano on Wednesday.
Some of the projects launched include: the free breast screening programme for 1,000 women, the Tuberculosis Mobile Detecting facility, access to care for enrollees of the Kano State Contributory Health Scheme as well as the distribution of laptops and Internet modems to Roll Back Malaria officers in the state.
A statement by the Director of Media at the ministry, Mrs. Boade Akinola, quoted Adewole as saying cancer is “the number one killer disease among women.”
He said launching of free screening on cancer would reduce the death rate.
The minister also on behalf of the Kano State Governor inaugurated the boards of the Kano Health Trust Fund; Private Health Institutions Management Agency and the Kano Ultra Modern Special Hospitals.
Adewole said that all of the programmes were geared towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
He said, “People like you (Ganduje) make my work easy, other governors called on me to help them but the message from Kano is come and see what we are doing.”
The minister said tuberculosis was also a serious threat as over 75 per cent of Nigerians who had the disease were unaware of their status.
