Cancer Summit seeks optimal care for patients
THE just concluded cancer summit with the theme: “Building Strategic Frameworks For Strengthening Cancer Patient Support Groups and Breaking the Bad News in the African Region” put together by a coalition of Non Governmental Organisations ( NGOS) in the Nigeria cancer space was a huge success reaching the targeted number of 20 participants ( doctors, nurses and cancer advocates) in the serene environment of the Marriot Hotel Ikeja. Participants came from Kebbi, Ife, Gombe, Abuja and Lagos.
The number of virtual participants who attended the programme is yet to be fully ascertained.
Presentations around the breaking of bad news were given from the perspectives of professionals working in the cancer space and cancer survivors/ champions.
Prof Ifeoma Okoye the chief organiser and initiator of the event gave the opening speech. She narrated the events that led to the organising of the cancer summit and the need for governmental and non- governmental bodies caring for cancer patients to synergize their efforts for better/ greater patients’ outcome.
She congratulated the participants noting that “Many were invited but you were appointed to be here. The summit was designed to train a crop of health workers and advocates who will as events unfold train others to increase capacity for building support groups and humanly break bad news in our health system.”
She also highlighted the next steps from the summit and encouraged the participants to key into this initiative by making up their minds give back. Future events were similar summit will be held are The HPCAN conference ( focus on healthcare providers and cancer survivors) in June, ARCON in September ( with focus on resident doctors), the International Cancer Week ( ICW) in October the brings everyone working in the cancer space together and AORTIC in November for giving evaluation report on this initiative.
This was followed be a four- man panel discussion anchored by Dr. Denise Ejoh on the realities of survivorship and cancer care in Nigeria.
Prof. Agnes Anarado gave presentation via Zoom on “Amplifying the role of nurse practitioners in breaking bad news.” She emphasised the to engage the tools of research to develop local protocols for breaking bad news that is well suited for our settings.
Dr. Samuel Otene the immediate past president of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Nigeria ( HPCAN) reiterated the importance of doctors being trained in the art and not just the science of medicine and highlighted how breaking bad news impacts medical doctors.
Dr. Denise Ejoh spoke on what it is like living with cancer and what can be done to help make the cancer journey more bearable for patients including ensuring that patients benefit from the services of multidisciplinary teams.
Dr. Elizabeth Akin- Odanye gave an insightful lecture on breaking bad news with emphasis on the use of the SPIKES protocol.
Gloria Okwu shared her personal cancer journey as a young adult with children, parents and an anticipated future with boundless opportunity and how cancer can truncate dreams and distort the perspectives of life and it’s essence.
She, however, noted that it is not all about gloom because now she tries to prioritize what makes her life meaningful like writing, singing and having serious conversations with her children. She emphasized being intentional on the legacy she wants to leave.
The question and answer session was highly interactive with participants also sharing case studies from their centres.
Can cancer be avoided or rather prevented?
It may not be possible to completely avoid cancer, but there is a lot we can do to reduce the risk of getting some cancers and detecting them early through routine screening. And for cervical cancer, fortunately, there is available and accessible efficacious vaccination ( HPV: Human Papilloma Virus, Vaccine) that easily achieves primary prevention!
To improve early detection, we need to put the following in place: community advocacy/ mobilisation ( planned and annually rostered and sustained; and awareness campaigns. More effort should be focused on screening programmes, and imperatively, the often forgotten need of providing training/ capacity building of health workers, particularly, community health workers and nurses who serve as primary contacts for women in rural areas.