By Ojoma Akor, Daily Trust
The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) has called on the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to partner with it towards integrating cancer prevention and diagnosis at the primary healthcare level.
The Director General of NICRAT, Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, made the call when he visited the NPHCDA Director General, Dr. Muyi Aina, at his office in Abuja.
“We also want you to support the inclusion of cancers as part of the integrated disease surveillance system of the country. We can see the possibility of integrating cancer as disease surveillance in the system that already exists,” Prof. Malami said in a statement from NICRAT.
He called on the NPHCDA to also partner with it on a national cervical cancer screening program as a follow-up to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program rolled out by the federal government in October.
The NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr. Muyi Aina, commended the NICRAT Director General for the initiatives, noting that there are a lot of opportunities for collaboration between the two agencies.