The federal government has partnered with a United States based hospital, St Jude Global, to combat childhood cancer in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this when a delegation from St Jude Global, visited him in his office in Abuja, on Monday.
The visit was in preparation for a two-day workshop organized by the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) slated for January 30-31, 2024, in Abuja, with the theme ‘National Stakeholders Prioritization Workshop for Childhood Cancer in Nigeria’.
The minister assured the team of maximum support to combat childhood cancers in Nigeria, adding that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government has placed healthcare on the front burner to improve the health of Nigerians.
He said the government is committed to partnering and collaborating with St. Jude Global to halt the incidences of paediatric cancers in the country.
The Team lead of St. Jude Global, Nickhill Bhakta, said his team was in Nigeria to explore ways of partnership and collaboration in order to tackle paediatric cancers.
He said his hospital has a special interest in paediatric cancers and it has been supporting and funding many countries of the world to fight the disease.
The Director General of NICRAT, Prof. Usman Aliyu Malami, said the St. Jude team is in Nigeria to explore ways of supporting the federal government to improve cancer care, especially, childhood cancers in the country.
Prof. Malami assured of the readiness of NICRAT to partner with St. Jude in the area of capacity building, seminars and implementation of cancer-related policies.
