Monday, April 8, 2013

NIGERIANS AND CULTURE OF SILENCE REGARDING CANCER




Recently the news media has been awash with the news that Ekiti state Deputy Governor died after a protracted battle with breast cancer. While the details of her condition was kept under wraps as usual by our political spin doctors,one can't help but wonder why we always refuse to talk about issues relating to cancer. Many women are dying due to lack of enlightenment regarding cancer yet when ever someone comes down with the disease,more effort is spent on blaming evil spirits and curses as the cause of the ailment. Many women in Nigeria today (even the highly educated ones) spend more time at faith healers and traditional healers whenever they are diagnosed with breast cancer thus by the time they finally end up going to a hospital the cancer would have spread to such an extent that there is very little that can be done for them. I hope the family of the late Ekiti state deputy governor will use their sister's cancer sojourn to reach out to other women by talking about early detection of breast cancer instead of wasting money doing elaborate burial ceremony that does not advance the cause of humanity.

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