By Haruna Usman, Birnin Kebbi
Wife of Kebbi State Governor, Hajiya Nafisa Idris, leaders of the World Health Organization, WHO, as well as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, have urged mothers in the state to embrace free cancer testing being sponsors by the state government to know their status earlier.
Nafisa who led others during a public awareness across major streets of Birnin Kebbi, the state capital as part of this year’s cancer awareness, disclosed that the administration of her husband has provided free drugs and testing kits for the free testing exercise.
While addressing women at Kalgo Specialist Hospital, in a town hall on the awareness, Hajiya Nafisa Idris said: “Early detection of cancer leads to cure. Women would be screened for cancer and those diagnosed will get free drugs that the governor has made available. Children will also be screened free for cancer, she said.
Idris who urged women diagnosed with the disease not to give up or get depressed said their positive status is not a death sentence since testing and drugs are available free for them.
She commended her husband, international partners for support and prayed for the success of her husband’s administration.
Earlier, the WHO Kebbi State Coordinator, Dr. Nasir Bala Zurmi, represented by Dr. Yusuf Issa, a consultant with the organisation urged women to utilize the opportunity provided by the State Government to test themselves to know their status earlier before it is too late.
In her remark, the representative of UNICEF, Esther Shisoka, a specialist in charge of Social and Behaviour Change, commended the efforts of the governor’s wife and appealed to the women to use the opportunity given to them free of charge to detect their status earlier to protect them from cancer.
