About 200 health workers drawn from 60 public health facilities, including the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), 15 general hospitals and 44 primary healthcare centres have been trained to provide breast and cervical cancer screening for citizens in their facilities.
The eight-day training programme which ended on Wednesday was convened by the Lagos State government in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to increase access to cancer screening services in all state health facilities.
Olusegun Ogboye, permanent secretary, ministry of health, speaking at the close of the workshop, said the partnership was geared towards making cancer screening more accessible and readily available in public health facilities in Lagos, according to a statement from the ministry.
Read also: Government at all levels must budget for health emergencies – Nsofor
Ogboye, who was represented by Rotimi Agbolagorite, director of disease control in the state ministry of health, explained that the capacity-building workshop was part of a larger support arrangement to improve access to cancer screening services.
“The ministry’s efforts to make cancer screening services more accessible and readily available in all state health facilities, has been further strengthened with the recent support from one of our development partners, UNFPA,” he said.
Apart from the capacity-building workshop for the 200 state health workers, he said the ministry is being supported by UNFPA with the donation of 15,000 units of disposable speculums, 180 pieces couch rolls and 260 pieces of K-Y jelly which are requisite consumable for the provision of effective breast and cervical cancer screening and management services.
