By Bianca Iboma
Worried about the rising cases of cervical, breast, prostrate cancers and other terminal ailments among Nigerians, Bishop Peace Okonkwo, of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) organised a free medical screening exercise as part of the activities lined up for her 65th birthday celebration.
According to her, women have to embrace regular screening of the cervix to ensure prompt treatment of the life threatening condition. She started the PEACE Campaign in 2012 when she discovered that a lot of women die of treatable diseases, as well as men and children. Today over 8,000 women have been screened of cervical and breast cancer while about 15 000 people have benefited from the free medical check up.
Okonkwo expressed concern at the rate people die due to ignorance or late presentation of their ailment which could have been treated early and averted death.. “The major aim of the campaign is to educate people on the importance of regular medical check-up and also provide the platform because a lot of people don’t go to hospital except there is a grievous condition.. Early attention is what the PEACE campaign advocates,” she said.
She explained that if women take advantage of routine screening, most of the cervical, breast cancer cases would be detected early and prompt treatment would reverse them and even save the lives of those affected. She disclosed that for the first time, this year they had decided to include prostrate cancer screening for men because of its recent increase and a lot of men don’t know about it.
“The exercise is to screen women, men, children, for signs and symptoms of cervical,breast, prostrate cancer, Body Mass Index(BMI), blood sugar, blood pressure, deworming for children, hepatitis B and other health related issues,” she said..
