Every year, October is commemorated all over the world as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and all efforts are devoted to increasing attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of this deadly disease.
In 2020, there were over 2 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and over 680,000 deaths globally. As of the end of 2020, there were over 7.5 million women alive, who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer. (World Health Organization, 2021).
In Nigeria, there are thousands of new cases of breast cancer, with so many deaths recorded especially with late presentation of breast cancer cases and lack of funds for treatment.
In low and middle-income countries like Nigeria, the incidence has been rising up steadily in the last couple of years due to adoption of western lifestyles.
Currently, there is no enough knowledge about the exact causes of breast cancer, however, early detection of the disease and commencement of quick treatment remain the main ways of controlling the spread of breast cancer.
If breast cancer is detected early, and adequate treatments are available, there is a good chance that breast cancer can be treated completely.
The majority of deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, where most women with breast cancer are diagnosed at late stages mainly due to lack of awareness about early detection and barriers to health services.
Consequently, MD of SignalADoc, Osagie Omokaro, joins all stakeholders in stating that improvements must be made in access to early detection, treatment, palliative care and also comprehensive data collection of all known and suspected cases to help with research.
SignalADoc is a telehealth organization that leverages artificial intelligence to transform health & wellness by making it more accessible and affordable to everyone.
The organisation offers a non-invasive facial recognition-based solution to report heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, stress levels and blood pressure in seconds.
“We also offer a telemedicine solution that allows you to speak to experienced doctors and medical experts right from where you are using your mobile device. Early breast cancer detection is possible if only women everywhere can seek medical advice early. With the SignalADoc solution, Doctors are closer than ever,” it said.
