FG Forms Committee To Manage Fund For Cancer Treatment

The Federal Government has established a committee to carry out the Cancer Health Fund.

Dr. Usman Aliyu, the director-general of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, revealed this information on Saturday in Abuja during an interactive session hosted by NICRAT in association with the International Society of Media on Public Health.

The Federal Ministry of Health launched the CHF as a way to improve national cancer care and give cancer treatment to underprivileged Nigerians.

The University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo state; the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe; the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo state; and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna state, were the six pilot hospitals involved in the initiative's inception in 2021.

As part of the CHF, the government allocated N200 million in the 2024 Appropriations Act for the treatment of impoverished cancer patients.

The Global Cancer Observatory reports that in 2022, there were 79,542 cancer-related deaths and 127,763 new instances of the disease.