There is nothing more empowering than taking charge of the direction in which your life goes or knowing and optimizing the knowledge that you are in fact the master of your fate and the captain of your ship and for the longest time, this was one of my greatest aspirations; to be in charge of my life, particularly my health, and this year, the opportunity came to me. I took advantage of a highly subsidized health screening package for women in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2023 and I had over 10 medical tests conducted on me that day. I can recall only a few times in my life when I have felt more validated than that day. Medical checkups in private clinics are expensive and even though it was highly subsidized by more than 40% off the original price, it still caused a significant dent in my budget that month, a price that was worth its weight in gold, anyway.
Though I found it empowering, it was also scary. Different scenarios played out in my head and I wondered what I would do if the doctors found something. It was the first time I was doing a professional breast examination. To my great relief, nothing was found, and since then, regular medical checkups have become a significant part of my life, and for good reason, given the array of medical conditions that are peculiar to the female biology such as ovarian and cervical cancer, heart diseases (studies show heart diseases affect women more, causing death in 1 out of 4 women worldwide), autoimmune and gynecological issues. Right after my checkup, I became an advocate for these checkups and it was shocking to me, just how unseriously people took their health. Once, while speaking to a close relative, I found out she had never heard of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) and she had a 13-year-old daughter. That scared me. I wondered how many things we could prevent if we knew more. Statistically, Third World countries suffer the most deaths from preventable and treatable illnesses than their First World counterparts accounting for 1.6 million death in Africa according to a United Nations Reports in 2015. Sometimes, I wonder how much of this difference is due to our culture of negligence until irredeemable.
One of our household staff had to resign from his job to travel back to his hometown in Northern Nigeria because his mother was dying from Breast Cancer. There had been no forewarning, no prior diagnosis or even a period of treatment or chemotherapy; hers was a diagnosis and a death sentence all in one. I have seen this pattern repeated so many times that it is not surprising anymore that the point from diagnosis to death is always a straight line.
Lack of awareness and illiteracy could be a huge factor contributing to this. A 2018 report by the World Bank pegged the average literacy rate of the female adults in Nigeria at 53%, the lowest of all the other demography compared and this is even less in rural communities. Lack of education has a direct link to economic emancipation and quality of health accessible to the average woman. The Public Health care services are overwhelmed, and the private care practice is way beyond the affordability margin of the average Nigerian woman. Time and the commonplace African culture of negligence could also contribute. In the grand scale of things, visiting a hospital when they do not feel sick hardly seems significant on their list of priorities so long as they can keep moving. To the average Nigerian, health is more a matter of feeling and opinions thus, routine medical checkups are unnecessary and simply a waste of time and money.
According to the American Cancer Society, Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, just behind lung cancer accounting for 1 in 3 deaths of women worldwide leading people to taking more drastic actions in recent years towards eliminating the risk and having more control over their lives. In more advanced economies, women are already opting for complete mastectomies, to completely remove the risks. In 2013, the famous American actress, Angelina Jolie opted for a double mastectomy after she discovered that there was a history of Breast Cancer in her family as a preemptive measure for her safety, a step I fully applaud, given that the information that are popular now, are focused on the early detection of lumps instead of trying to reduce, eliminate or maybe even preempt the factors that could lead to them.
In the fight against Breast Cancer, it would make a lot of difference to focus some attention on Predictive Hereditary Cancer Genetic Testing. This is the use of medical tests to look for certain mutations (changes) in a person’s genes with the aim to identify inherited gene mutations that might put a person at higher risk of getting certain kinds of cancer. Hereditary testing works for several ailments and illnesses from congenital to autoimmune diseases as well as some mental illnesses, like autism or schizophrenia, by recognizing mutated genes peculiar to those illnesses. For Autoimmune diseases for example, it is by testing for the Polymorphism of the beta chain of the T-cell receptor, while for breast cancer, it is testing for changes in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes which are known to increase the risk factor for breast cancer and other types of cancer.
In a post-Covid19 pandemic world, it is apparent that all options deserve attention in our efforts to combat illnesses. The great achievements of a few centuries ago, pale in comparison to current feats and discoveries. It was an outstanding breakthrough when Louis Pasteur discovered that germs caused diseases providing a path of illumination for the advent of modern medicine and it was such a world-stopping moment in history when Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotics, Penicillin. Now, Medicine has grown exponentially not only being preventive or redemptive to the exciting possibility of predictiveness. Knowing that you are genetically predisposed to certain ailments would make prevention much more effective and treatment more efficient, thus giving us the leverage to make better choices.
It is a daunting and frightening ordeal to strip down for a breast examination or go under the MRI for a scan because then, what happens after the verdict? Stories like my staff’s mum abound and with how much we ignore until it is impossible to do so anymore, until it becomes too advanced for a recourse, even going for a check is oftentimes a traumatizing ordeal. In the time between stripping and feeling for lumps, lives are irretrievably changed because sometimes, these tests just serve as confirmations, at which point, the case is lost. Hereditary Genetic Cancer tests could save millions of people from a lifetime of fatal surprises by giving them the gift of control because now, you know and by knowing, you become master of your own fate.
I look forward to a future when this would become more popular globally and in Africa so that women are able to lead fuller, healthier, happier lives with less fear.
Written by Odigwe Gloria
