Professor Akintayo Olaolorun, the current Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Bowen University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, has described disease and disaster preventive measures as essential for sound healthcare assurance and control of sudden loss of life in the society.
He made the remark while delivering the 15th edition of Bowen University’s inaugural lecture held last Thursday.
Speaking on the topic, ‘The Hand that Cares: The Sojourn of a Primary Care Physician in a Tertiary Mission Institution,’ Olaolorun, a Professor of Family Medicine, noted that the goal of preventive healthcare is health maintenance, health promotion and disease prevention, which he said could be achieved through reduction of risk factors for diseases, early diagnosis of illness when they occur, as well as prevention of complications and limitation of disability.
He said to discourage the development of risk factors, primordial prevention measures would be required for public advocacy on the part of family physicians.
He added that addressing the prevention of diseases before they occur through health education, promotion of health diets, immunizations and early detection of disease could not be overemphasised.
Continuing, Olaolorun justified the importance of healthcare preventive measures, noting that it has been estimated that one in eight men and one in eleven women will die of cancer if care is not taken.
According to his paper report, in 2020, there were 124,815 new cases of cancer in Nigeria, adding that 78,899 Nigerians died of cancer. He noted that these numbers are projected to go up by 85 per cent in the next 15 years.
He declared that the five most common types of cancer in Nigeria are breast, lymphoma, prostate, cervical, colorectal, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Professor Olaolorun noted that the culture of wellness and checks and health check-up must be cultivated by Nigerians if the country must improve on survival rates.
He said: “Early detection and prompt treatment could be mitigated or prevented from becoming worse,” affirming that a major part of primary prevention is the use of vaccines for immunizations.
As contained in his lecture, Nigeria is plagued by several vaccine-preventable diseases and many people lose their lives to these infectious diseases, stressing that tetanus is one of the deadly diseases that should not be held with levity.
He emphasised that family physicians and all physicians must advocate for the provision of basic amenities, saying that the absence of it could cause disease to proliferate and kill people.
“We must combine primordial and primary preventive healthcare in tackling the problem,” he added.
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