Scientists and medical experts including Oncologists from the United States of America have urged Nigeria and other African countries to invest more funds in the development and utilisation of the latest technology and research innovation to address the cancer scourge.
They said many modern medical therapies for the treatment of cancer are currently not accessible to cancer patients in Africa.
Chief Medical Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, (ASCO) Dr. Julie Gralow who spoke at the Oncology Conference organised by the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) in partnership with Africa Organisation for Rearch and Training In Cancer (AORTIC) in Abuja on Saturday said there is need to bridge the gap in treatment therapy available in the United States and countries in Africa.
According to her one of the ways to domesticate these new cancer treatment therapies on the continent is to have more clinical trials conducted locally in order to evaluate their impact.
Gralow said both ASCO and AORTIC had entered a partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2020 on capacity training and exchange programmes on research studies.
“The big part of that MOU is on capacity building, meaning building the workforce and training, but importantly, it’s on clinical trials and clinical research, and training the next generation of clinical trialists.
Regarding the conference, Gralow said: “What we’re doing here is not only presenting some of that research, but putting it into the context of the African continent. Many of these trials that will change practice immediately in the United States had no or minimal participation from the African continent.
“These are drugs that have not been tested on people of African heritage. We don’t know if they will have the same response, the same side effects in that population. So, that’s part of the discussion as to how we translate this?”.
Speaking to journalists at the event, the Director General of NICRAT, Professor Usman Malami Aliyu said the Institute is currently exploring how it can translate scientific research and breakthroughs in the area of cancer treatment into action.
Aliyu said that NICRAT is going to understudy all the research papers presented by renowned scientists in the field of oncology to see how it can translate them into action.
Aliyu also spoke on the progress being made to lessen the burden of cancer treatment on patients saying that the federal government is implementing the initiative on the National Cancer Fund to assist indigent patients in accessing quality healthcare.
On her part, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare on Research and Innovation, Dr. Lolade Adeyemi said that Nigeria has made a lot of progress on clinical trials.
She added: “Clinical trials are a significant part of the treatment ecosystem. And one of the accomplishments for Nigeria this year is that we have three immunotherapy studies in the country for the first time”.
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
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