Nigeria’s cancer burden is significant and growing as cancer is responsible for 72,000 deaths in the country annually. With an estimated 102,000 new cases of cancer every year, the deaths resulting from cancer is set to increase substantially in the future. Particularly challenging, is the mortality incidence ratio for cancer in the country. For example, while in America, 19% of all breast cancer cases result in death, this percentage is 51% in Nigeria- this means that the chances of surviving are from breast cancer are lower in Nigeria than they are in America.
Capacity for cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment is weak in Nigeria. There are several challenges with the cancer program that leads to these weaknesses in the system. The goal of this project is to assess gaps in skill level as a basis to improve HR capacity, gaps in infrastructure and equipment as basis to improve equipment functionality, system gaps and barriers to quality treatment, and Identify concrete, feasible solutions to address key challenges