The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment has called for more funding to carry out its mandate of coordinating research, mapping out resources in the cancer space and achieving a zero free cancer country.
The Director General of the Institute, Dr. Usman Aliyu, made the call at a media parley with journalists in Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria records over 120,000 new cases of cancer each year, stressing that the increased funding was necessary to wage war against the disease which had caused the death of over 78,000 Nigerians in 2020.
He said, from Global projections, the number of new cancer cases was expected to rise by 70% as new cases globally rose to about 20 million in year 2020.
The DG NICRAT noted that the Institute plans to budget funds for indigent patients who cannot afford treatment.
The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, NICRAT, is a corporate body established under the NICRAT act 2017 in recognition of the need for a more coordinated and multi-sectoral response to the growing cancer burden in Nigeria.
