The chief medical director (CMD) of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Yusuf Dasilva, says men can also be affected by breast cancer, advising both genders to always go for screening.
Mr Dasilva stated this in an interview on the sidelines of a ‘Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness’, organised in Ilorin as part of the activities marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The programme, with the theme “No One Should Face Breast Cancer Alone,” was organised by UITH in collaboration with the Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN).
The CMD, represented by Bilyaminu Abayomi, chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), UITH, described breast cancer as a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the breast.
According to him, certain factors, including increasing age and obesity, increase the risk of breast cancer.
He said others were harmful use of alcohol, family history of breast cancer, history of radiation exposure, reproductive history (such as age that menstrual periods began and age at first pregnancy), tobacco use, and postmenopausal hormone therapy.
The CMD said the exercise was to facilitate knowledge sharing, provide a platform for disseminating breast cancer information, sensitise people to get screened, and ensure early diagnosis to save lives.
Also speaking, a consultant general surgeon at UITH, Olushola Fasiku, said breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women, adding that over two million cases are recorded yearly globally.
He stressed that there is treatment for breast cancer and people can live, insisting that men should also go for screening.
In her remarks, Mojirola Fasiku, a consultant public health physician in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, UITH, noted that breast cancer had been on the rise, and called on all stakeholders to support those with the disease.