Did you know that cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death worldwide and 10 million people die from cancer every year? 70% of cancer deaths occur in low-to-middle income countries. Almost at least one-third of all cancer-related deaths could be prevented through routine screening, early detection and treatment.
WHO has said Africa records 1.1 million new cases of cancer, resulting in up to 70,000 deaths every year. Nigeria has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the world, with approximately 4 out of 5 cases resulting in death, according to the global cancer observatory. In Nigeria, there are about 250,000 new cancer cases recorded yearly and about 10,000 cancer deaths annually.
The numbers are grim and mind you, these are not just numbers or statistics! They are real people with real lives, with faces and they have a story. These numbers are someone’s kid, mum, father, friend and loved one. In a country where quality healthcare seems like a luxury, the question is what happens to an average Nigerian diagnosed with cancer?
My name is Kemi Adedigba and I am the coordinator of my project called Cancer Aid Fund. In Q4 of 2020, after graduating in Human Anatomy from Bowen University, I got tired of the many social problems in Nigeria especially in the healthcare sector. I call it fate or coincidence because everyday I stepped out, I would see at least one or two persons who had a chronic illness who were on the streets begging. It felt like the problem was calling to me and it was actually deafening. So instead of ignoring it, I got inquisitive and started to research about the healthcare system in Nigeria; health insurance, primary healthcare, all those things.
Eventually, in January 2021, I started a development organisation alongside my friends with the same passions and burdens, Hub For Social Impact and Development. In February of the same year, I wrote a book titled ‘We Should All Be Changemakers’ and used the proceeds of the launch to save my first set of beneficiaries; 4 children with leukemia, sepsis and pleural effusion, cerebrospinal meningitis and pneumonia.
Testimonials:
One of the parents of the beneficiaries, Mummy Oba, a single mother had this to say: “We had gone to different hospitals and had spent all we had. Eventually, we were referred to UCH and to be honest, I had no money anymore, we had borrowed so much and were even owing debts. I was told of an organisation, Hub, that wanted to help us but I didn’t believe we could get any such help. But they came through for us, they paid for all of Oba’s outstanding medical bills, his drugs, paid for his bed fee that had piled up and even paid for physiotherapy post-discharge. God really used them for my son and I’m so grateful that he is alive. I am very thankful for their organisation and I keep praying for them because they saved my son’s life. Thank you so much, God bless you.”
Another parent of one of the beneficiaries, Muniru, Suliyat’s mum narrated: “When the sickness started, it started with a cough and we took her to the neighbourhood hospitals. They will give her treatment, she gets better, then the condition will start again. I eventually brought her to UCH and she was diagnosed with cerebrospinal meningitis and the bill for treatment was high. I am more of a house wife with petty trading on the side and my husband, a handcraft person. We had no hope of raising that money, talk more of seeing someone to help us, we had given up and her case was getting worse day by day. At some point, she couldn’t see clearly and couldn’t hear us unless we raised our voices. One of the drugs prescribed for Suliyat was about N20,000 ($40), she needed to take one of that daily and we even had to waybill it from Lagos to Ibadan. We borrowed to go buy the first dose and couldn’t afford subsequent doses.
One day, in my state of despair, I was sitting outside the children’s ward when one of the nurses came to call me that one NGO wants to help me. I was surprised, wondering if it could be real. They asked for the name of the drug and bought the drug consistently and that was how Suliyat got well. I am so grateful to God. They supported us throughout financially and emotionally till Suliyat was discharged. I am so grateful to the Hub because when I came in with Suliyat, I had no idea I was going to return with her alive. Thank you so much, you too will find helpers. Thank you, God bless you.”
For us at the Hub, the last time we heard from Muniru, she called to share the good news that Suliyat’s junior WAEC result was out and she passed in flying colours.
Since then, the Hub For Social Impact has saved and supported 50+ children with chronic diseases, partnered and gotten a commendation award from the Paediatrics Department, University College Hospital (UCH), the flagship tertiary health institution in Nigeria. The organisation has also gone on to establish ‘Art & Music Festival For Sick Children in the Paediatric Wards’ turning gloomy and sad childrens’ ward to happy places through art and music.
Recently, I started to feel a special burden for cancer patients, this was due to the rapid prevalence of cancer in Nigeria. Everybody knows somebody who has/had cancer or somebody who knows someone who has/had cancer. So I started to ask questions and research, what can we do for cancer patients?
The havoc wrecked by cancer is excruciating pain on the individual, burdened families, emotional turmoil and shattered dreams, and it doesn’t have a cure, yet! In a bid to ease some of this pain, the Cancer Aid Fund was formed. It is a social trust-fund that provides financial and psychological support to cancer patients by giving 50% copayment aid that supports cancer patients throughout care and partnering with Primary Healthcare Centres to give free, routine cancer screening and early diagnosis campaigns in communities.
The disease is already gruelling enough, a cancer patient and their family are already going through a lot physically and emotionally, financial burden shouldn’t be part of it. So I said, I’m going to create a trust-fund, basically a purse of money that would support cancer patients financially. The next question was where would money to fill the trust-fund come from? I did my research, had my options; grants, corporate partners, development partners, government but they all seemed like they were going to take a bit of time to fall through. So I thought what did I have in my hands that I could raise funds with? Then I remembered my art, I’ve been painting since 2019, I enjoy it. My mum always wondered how I would buy art supplies and spend so much time painting even though I didn’t post my work or actively sell my artworks. It was a hobby and a mode of expression for me. This is how the idea of Art4Health came to life. What if I could sell my art, merch and afrocentric fashion pieces to raise funds for cancer patients in Nigeria? And viola!”
I launched the Art4Health Shop (www.art4health.org) in December 2022 and there has been some sales on the platform. The objective of the pilot phase of the Cancer Aid Fund is to provide 50% copayment aid to 10 cancer patients that covers chemo, radiation and surgery and two; provide free cancer screening to 1000 Nigerians in Q1 2023.
In Nigeria, a cancer diagnosis can feel like a death sentence but it shouldn’t be, if things worked. I’m not wishing you bad (as Nigerians can be very superstitious) but imagine you get a cancer diagnosis today, can you afford the entire treatment you need to be cancer free? The truth is the answer is NO, for a larger percent of Nigerians.
Even for the Nigerians who are above average, it still would be difficult because cancer care is expensive. And this is why I created the fund, that gives at least 50% copayment aid for the entire treatment course and psychological support, so cancer patients and their families don’t feel alone. Even better, if there can be early diagnosis through our routine cancer screening at Primary Healthcare Centres, it increases the chances of survival rapidly and reduces cancer prevalence in the long run. This is what I’m trying to do.
My goal is to ensure every Nigerian has health insurance, so that if they ever get diagnosed with chronic illnesses like cancer, financial worries are reduced to some minimum and they can access the care they need. I intend to accomplish this through multi-sectoral partnerships as it is a social problem that needs all hands on deck.
My vision is for every tertiary health institution to have a state of the art, well-equipped cancer care centre that offers cancer diagnostics and treatment from scratch till cancer-free, from PET scan, to surgical prowess, radiotherapy, and so on, so Nigerians don’t have to travel to India to get cancer treatment.
I hope that I can build the Cancer Aid Fund to a multi-billion dollar fund permanently supporting disadvantaged cancer patients in Nigeria throughout their continuum of care.
To support the work, you can shop at the Art4Health Shop: www.art4health.org and for more information, go to https://mainstack.me/hubforsocialimpact
Watch the info session about the Cancer Aid Fund here: https://youtu.be/nQpSiW0QH2Y
More info https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10QczCZr2t2NI4_MshCDGj6xi1YExj50y
