An NGO, Okapi Children Cancer Foundation (Okapi CCF), has appealed to government and kind-hearted individuals to provide access to treatment, healthcare and finance for children with cancer, especially those in rural areas.
Chief Volunteer of OkapiCCF, Ms Kemi Adekanye, made the appeal on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Adekanye, while expressing concern over high cost of childhood cancer treatment, especially for those in rural areas with poor access to finance and health facilities, appealed for more support to them.
According to her, the cost and stress of travelling to access healthcare has discouraged some parents to continue cancer treatment for their children.
She stated that such challenges had forced some parents to stop treatment or seek alternative treatment for their children, thus further compounding their challenges.
“Children fighting cancer in a country like ours are automatically disadvantaged due to difficulty in accessing care, finance and inadequate awareness on the disease.
“Recently, an 11-year-old boy fighting nephroblastoma, whose widowed mother sells ‘kunu’ drink, comes all the way from Niger to FCT for treatment.
“They need transport fare to travel down to Abuja every other week.
“Sometimes when treatment days have short intervals, she has to decide to either stay with friends or family, get a hotel or sleep on the hospital corridor with her son fighting cancer.
“Remember she is a kunu seller; she will likely sleep on the hospital corridor or car park with her son, despite his condition.
“What do you think happened after one year of treatment? Fatigue set in, treatment abandoned and the chances of beating the disease narrowed,” she said.
Adekanye stressed the need for individuals, parents, stakeholders and government to do more in this regard.
“We need to use our voices to advocate for better access to care and for more child-friendly interventions.
“No child should die of cancer. childhood cancer is everyone’s business, and better survival is achievable if we all put more efforts,” she said.
Adekanye, therefore, appealed for access to some infrastructure that could help in cancer treatment and make treatment costs more affordable and accessible for rural children. (NAN)
