Ilorin: What began as a heartbreaking loss in Ilorin, Kwara State, has ignited a wave of life-saving interventions across Nigeria, particularly in Gombe State, North-East Nigeria, where thousands of women are now benefiting from free cervical cancer screening. For Florence Adewale, the pain of losing her mother, Mrs. Foluke Adeleke, to late-stage cervical cancer was unbearable. The disease, discovered only when it had reached its third stage, claimed Mrs. Adeleke’s life just months after diagnosis.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, that painful realization resonated deeply with Dr. Babatunde Adewumi, a young doctor who had seen Mrs. Adeleke as a second mother. Witnessing her excruciating suffering in 2011 while still in medical school, Dr. Adewumi was haunted by the thought that her death could have been prevented. Determined to turn his grief into action, he founded Quinta Health in 2017, a health-focused NGO aimed at bridging the gender health gap and increasing access to cervical cancer prevention and treatment in underserved communities.
Through partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, and health organizations, Quinta Health has established screening centers and conducted health outreaches, providing free screenings and treatment referrals for thousands of women. Cervical cancer, known as papillomavirus (HPV), is the leading cause of gynecological cancer death among women in developing countries. According to the United Nations, in Nigeria, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths among women aged between 15 and 44 years.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), HPV is a sexually transmitted infection, with nearly every sexually active person at risk of exposure. While many HPV infections clear up naturally, certain strains can lead to cervical, anal, oropharyngeal, and other cancers if left untreated. This disease is preventable through the HPV vaccine, while regular screening for precancerous conditions can help early detection to reduce cases and deaths by allowing for timely treatment and effective management.
In 2020, the latest year for which data is available for the WHO, the country recorded 12,000 new cases and 8,000 deaths from cervical cancer. One of the beneficiaries of Quinta Health’s screenings, Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim, a 56-year-old mother of five, recalled how she was unaware of her condition until she attended a free screening in Ogun State. Quinta Health’s remarkable work caught the attention of the founder of AMEN Healthcare and Empowerment, Madam Rita Aizehi-Aimiuwu Oguntoyinbo, who sought the NGO’s expertise as a technical partner to establish cervical cancer screening centers in Gombe State.
In collaboration with the Gombe State Government, it set up 13 screening centers across all 11 Local Government Areas. Since 2019, these centers have screened 13,747 women, identifying and treating hundreds of cases early enough to prevent needless deaths. Trained nurses, equipped with skills to both diagnose and educate, played a critical role in the outreach. Community mobilizers also helped bridge the gap by encouraging women to step forward for screening, dispelling myths, and fostering trust in the process.
Among those whose lives were transformed by early detection was Ruth Jacobs in Gombe State. She had no symptoms when she decided, on a whim, to attend a screening session after hearing an announcement on the radio. Unlike Jacobs, Dorcas Mathew had been experiencing symptoms for some time but lacked the financial means to undergo screening. When she first approached a hospital, she was told that the test would cost ?30,700, an amount she could not afford. Then, fate intervened when a friend informed her of a free screening program.
As the screening centers continue to grow and more women become aware of the importance of early detection, the movement started by Dr. Adewumi and Florence Adewale’s loss is gaining momentum. However, Dr. Adewumi believed more interventions would have been done by the organization if it got more support through partnerships and funding. He said the organization has many ideas like using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for screening, setting up more screening centers across Nigeria, training health workers, and creating more mobile clinics, all waiting to be implemented but restricted due to lack of financial support.