Turai Yar'Adua signs agreement with IAEA on cancer control in Nigeria

Turai Yar'Adua signs agreement with IAEA on cancer control in Nigeria
The First Lady, Turai Yar'Adua, on Thursday signed an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on behalf of her NGO, the International Cancer Centre, Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Turai, who is attending a conference in Vienna, signed the agreement on cancer control in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. NAN reports that the First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, signed on behalf of the centre while Prof. Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General and Head of Nuclear Sciences and Applications of the IAEA, signed on behalf the agency.
The agreement was signed at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna after a meeting between the the ICCA Board of Trustees with the out-going Director General of the Agency, Dr Muhammed El-Baradei. Speaking on the occasion, Yar'Adua called for collaboration between the two organisations especially in the areas of early detection, therapy and management.
She said that the partnership would help in the reduction of the scourge of cancer not only in Nigeria, but in the West Africa. She said only 20 per cent of cancer patients in Africa had access to medication.
"Cancer treatment is very expensive and patients must travel far away from their countries to get the required attention and my plan is to reduce the scourge through early detection of the disease,," the First Lady said. She said that statistics showed that those dying of cancer in Nigeria were more than those who died as a result of HIV and AIDS and malaria put together.
Also speaking, a member of the ICCA Board of Trustees, Alhaji Muntari Maimaje, said the centre was ready to collaborate with the IAEA in the areas of research,manpower training, and purchase of equipment. Another speaker, the Chairman, National Committee on Cancer Control in Nigeria, Prof. Durosimi Etti, said the centre planned to train some Nigerian doctors under the IAEA's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy.
Responding, El-Baradei, said the IAEA had a good working relationship with Nigeria and that it would support the centre's plan to boost cancer control and management in Nigeria and other Africa countries.
The two sides will collaborate to develop and implement an integrated and comprehensive cancer control programme including planning, registration, prevention, screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment and palliative care and support.