A Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons and former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Benue State chapter, Dr. Usha Anenga, has urged parents and women to take advantage of available cervical cancer prevention and screening services, warning that delayed action could cost lives.
Dr. Anenga, a gynaecologist, raised the alarm after a recent encounter with a woman suffering from advanced cervical cancer, saying the experience exposed the tragic consequences of failing to prevent or detect the disease early.
In a post on his Facebook page, the medical expert said a friend had contacted him over a former female classmate who had been ill for some time. After speaking with the woman’s relative, Dr. Anenga said he realised that she had advanced cervical cancer that had already spread to other parts of her body.
According to the former NMA Chairman, at that stage, treatment was largely aimed at relieving the patient’s suffering and delaying the inevitable, a reality he said left his friend devastated.
But in what he described as a painful coincidence, Dr. Anenga said that within the same hour, he encountered the other side of the cervical cancer story while visiting a primary healthcare centre as part of research for his master’s degree.
“I got to know that the centre had a stock of vaccines against cervical cancer, but people were not coming forward to take them,” he said.
The former NMA chairman said the two experiences—one involving a woman facing the devastating consequences of advanced cancer and the other involving available vaccines that could prevent the disease but were not being utilised—highlighted the urgent need for greater public awareness and action.
“Cervical cancer is preventable. There is a vaccine against it, which is free and available for children between the ages of 8 and 14 years,” Dr. Anenga said, adding that screening and early treatment could also prevent precancerous changes from developing into cancer.
He urged parents with children within the eligible age bracket to take advantage of the free vaccination programme, while calling on sexually active women to undergo regular cervical cancer screening.
“If you have children, boys or girls, between the ages of 8 and 14 years, get them vaccinated today,” he urged, directing residents of Makurdi to the FSP, Wadata, where the service is available.
Dr. Anenga also encouraged women to seek screening at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, while advising those outside Makurdi to approach the nearest government hospital for screening, vaccination information or counselling.
“Act now before it’s too late!” the gynaecologist warned.
