By Aliyu DANLADI
Prof. Chinyere Babalola, the Vice-Chancellor, Chrisland University, Abeokuta in Ogun, on Tuesday urged African countries to stop depending on outcomes of foreign researches to fight cancer.
Babalola, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, said that breast cancer was more deadly and aggressive for women of African descent than women of European descent.
She spoke in Ibadan on the sidelines of a three-day workshop organised by the Department of Pharmacy, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
According to her, in view of this, their own drugs may not be totally agreeable to the black women.
TBI Afrioca said that the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop entitled: “Pharmaceutical Care in Oncology Practice’’ was to create more awareness on cancer and find ways to address its challenges.
She said that black women were also more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age than their European counterparts.
“The aggressive breast cancer sub-type that disproportionately affects young women of African results in poorer treatment outcomes.
“African women tend to have more aggressive tumors that lack the hormone receptors targeted by many breast cancer drugs that we depend on for treatment.
“Though, breast cancer cases used to be higher in white women, its prevalence among black women is being matched with that of white women in recent time.
“What is even more disturbing is that the recent gains in survival rates among women of European descent have not applied to black women.
“The mortality rate is higher than the aggressive behaviour of the cancer in black women.
“Other factors that contribute to high mortality rate, asides the genetic risk that result in aggressive cancer include low access to care, late presentation and low level of awareness,” Babalola said.
She appealed to the Federal Government to invest in breast cancer research for prevention, better diagnosis and treatment outcomes to increase rate of survival.
The vice-chancellor said: “Nigeria should not be left behind in the promising advances of precision medicine, which allows clinicians to provide treatment based on genetics and molecularly defined phenotypes of each patient.
“To increase the chances of breast cancer patient’s survival, we must recognise the importance of Biology to understand why African women are more likely to die of the disease.
“Clinical trials, which form part of research, come at a high cost. Before we can test drugs, we need to conduct immunohistochemical tests which cost between N15, 000 to N30, 000 per tests.
“Cancer research is exorbitantly expensive, and we need the support of the government to help our women survive this debilitating condition,” she said.
