Pink Africa Foundation has raised an alarm over rising cases of breast cancer in Nigeria, revealing that one out of eleven women is at risk, saying 70% to 80% of cases discovered are always presented late.
BusinessDay reports that the Foundation offered free screening for breast, cervical and prostate cancers; and eye care to hundreds of people in Calabar Metropolis and its environs.
The free screening exercise, which also featured blood drive and first aid services, was part of the Go Pink Day 2026 global awareness event themed, ‘Turn Up the Fight in Breast Cancer Care.’
Glory Enoh Egria, Executive Director, Pink Africa Foundation, said the theme was targeted at closing critical care gaps affecting women, especially in underserved communities.
‘We are not just creating awareness. We are backing it up with action,’ she said.
Egria flagged late presentation and poor awareness as major drivers of deaths, stressing monthly self-breast examination and immediate hospital visit for any lump, noting that not all lumps are cancerous.
She disclosed that the Foundation had sponsored several mastectomies and chemotherapy treatments, with many survivors recorded due to early detection.
‘Early detection saves lives. Over 50 cases have been reported at our center since January, but many patients cannot afford even transport or basic investigations,’ she said.
She lamented that treatment remains expensive and inaccessible in Cross River State, with few centers like the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital unable to meet demand, calling on government to subsidise care, provide more radiotherapy machines and deploy more oncologists.
‘We need government to come in and support us. A woman is caught between buying food for her children and paying for treatment. Women in rural areas like Ikom don’t have access,’ she appealed.
Corroborating, Executive Director, Yegwa Ukpo of Asi Ukpo Hospitals and Asi Ukpo Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Calabar, said Nigeria records about 144,000 new cancer cases yearly, with breast cancer as number one globally and in Nigeria, followed by cervical cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.
‘The burden is quite heavy. About 60 percent of patients that come to our hospital are breast cancer patients. 70 to 80 percent present late,’ Ukpo said.
He noted that breast cancer also affects men, hence the need for regular screening for both sexes, listing alcohol, smoking, processed foods, canned sausages and smoke-heavy foods like suya as carcinogenic, though cancer can still occur as a malfunction in body function.
‘The best thing is regular checkup. There are cancers with no symptoms until it is too late. Testing does not invite cancer,’ he warned.
On affordability, Ukpo disclosed that the hospital is in talks with the National Health Insurance Authority to include cancer care in health insurance to make it affordable.
Vivian Mesembe Otu, Director General of Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency, described breast cancer as the commonest cancer killing among females in Nigeria and Africa, warning women against dying in silence.
‘Many women present very late due to ignorance, poor awareness and beliefs, when it is already too late,’ she said.
She said breast cancer is predominantly hereditary but other factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle and smoking. She stressed monthly self-examination by dividing the breast into four quadrants and using the pad of fingers to feel for lumps.
‘If we pick this lump early at fibroadenoma stage and remove it, the woman is free,’ she said, lamenting limited resources and fake drugs.
She announced that Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Cross River Chapter, offers free breast and cervical screening every second Wednesday of the month at Barracks Road, Calabar, and that government is pushing mass enrollment into National and State Health Insurance Schemes while Pink Africa offers free mastectomy for confirmed cases at UCTH.