Abimiku, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said, 'Cancer causes more deaths than hiv/aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.''

He spoke on the World Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

The World Health Organization (WHO) – [OMS] has set aside every Oct. 5 to mark the day to raise level of awareness on early detection of the disease and treatment as well as palliative care.'Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss and a change in bowel movements.

'While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they may have other causes. Over 100 cancers affect humans."

Abimiku said, 'The death incidence of cancer is three million in the developed countries, while developing countries account for five million annually according to 2012 Globocan facts and figures.

'Incidence of cancer is globally on the increase with developing countries contributing over 55 per cent of the global cancer burden.
'There are 14 million new cases worldwide with 7.7 million cases recorded in developing countries.

'According to the report, one in eight deaths was traced to cancer, while eight million deaths were being recorded annually.''

The expert said early detection of cancer could help in curtailing the spread of the disease, adding that breast, cervical and prostate cancer were the commonest.

He said that lack of awareness, cultural belief, environmental pollution, lack of cancer screening policy, inadequate cancer registration, high cost of treatment were responsible for increasing rate of the disease.

Fonte: Daily Trust