Kenechukwu Anugwom

By Kenechukwu N. Anugwom

The focus of the study was on the social and institutional support available in Nigeria for the management of breast cancer among elderly women. It examined the occurrence and sociocultural factors implicated in breast cancer among elderly women in Nigeria. It discovered that there is increasing incidence of breast cancer among elderly women in Nigeria with an equally increasing mortality rate due largely to low awareness of this menace among women who are past childbearing age. In addition to a low level of awareness are other sociocultural factors such as age, income, education, and the belief systems of the people that the study identified as drivers of increasing menace of breast cancer among elderly women. The above are compounded by the scarcity and inaccessibility of cancer treatment and management facilities in Nigeria. Incidentally, counseling services from such professions as social work and clinical psychology are hardly in existence, leaving the burden of management and care entirely to the families of those affected by the ailment. This calls for a rethink of the sociocultural and support context of public health management in Nigeria. This paper examines the availability and adequacy of existing social and institutional support for breast cancer in Nigeria.

Part of the book: Public Health in Developing Countries