A new report from Gatefield’s Public Health Practice has found that Nigeria’s high cancer mortality rate is driven less by medical limitations and more by systemic policy failures that prioritise late-stage treatment over prevention and early detection. The study suggests the health system largely responds only after cancers have advanced, pushing up treatment costs and worsening outcomes.
According to the report obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, an estimated 125,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, with about 80,000 deaths recorded each year. Of these, 46,000 are women, with breast and cervical cancers accounting for a significant share of fatalities.
These cancers are widely considered among the most preventable and treatable globally when detected early, yet Nigeria continues to record high mortality due to delayed diagnosis and weak preventive infrastructure.
Late Response, High Costs
Gatefield noted that while Nigeria has cancer strategies on paper, financing and implementation remain misaligned. Prevention and screening are underfunded, early detection is treated as optional, and primary healthcare facilities—where most women interact with the health system—are rarely equipped to provide routine cancer screening.
“Many Nigerian women access healthcare mainly through primary health centres, yet cancer prevention and screening are often excluded from routine services,” the report states.
As a result, the system reacts late, when disease progression is advanced and treatment costs are highest. Gatefield describes these outcomes as “predictable and preventable.”
Lessons from Other Countries
The report contrasts Nigeria’s approach with countries that have rapidly reduced women’s cancer mortality, including Rwanda, Australia, and parts of Latin America. Rather than prioritising treatment expansion, these countries invested in upstream interventions—embedding screening into primary care, financing prevention through fiscal policy, and treating early detection as core health infrastructure.
In Rwanda, for instance, HPV vaccination coverage has exceeded 90%, placing future generations on track for the near-elimination of cervical cancer. In Australia, strong fiscal policies on tobacco have contributed significantly to declining cancer rates.
Nigeria introduced the HPV vaccine into its national immunisation programme in 2023, but Gatefield noted that misinformation, stigma, and weak community engagement continue to limit its impact.
“Where misinformation and social stigma go unaddressed, policy remains theoretical,” the report states.
Structural Barriers Persist
Beyond funding gaps, the report identifies deeper structural challenges, including fragmented financing models, weak primary healthcare infrastructure, and low health-seeking behaviour driven by misinformation and social penalties.
Gatefield argues these factors explain why women with the same cancers experience vastly different outcomes across countries.
“Across income levels, health systems are producing sharply different outcomes for women with the same cancers,” the report states. “The divergence is not driven by medical science alone. It reflects policy architecture.”
LIVEBTR: A Systems-Based Response
The findings underpin Gatefield’s health initiative, LIVEBTR, which frames cancer as a system and policy challenge rather than solely a clinical issue. The programme focuses on upstream interventions, including awareness campaigns, countering misinformation, early detection, and strengthening primary healthcare as the first line of defence.
Through community outreach, HPV vaccination campaigns, and policy advocacy, LIVEBTR aims to bridge the gap between policy design, public behaviour, and lived experience.
Evidence-Based Interventions Needed
Gatefield identified three evidence-based interventions capable of shifting cancer outcomes at the population level:
- Fiscal policy as a prevention tool – taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages are among the most cost-effective cancer prevention measures globally.
- Education as infrastructure – continuous, local, and culturally grounded public education is needed to normalise screening, counter myths, and encourage early health-seeking behaviour.
- Primary care integration – screening must be brought closer to where people live by integrating it into primary healthcare. “Where primary care is excluded from cancer strategies, late-stage diagnosis becomes the norm and costs escalate rapidly,” the report notes.
Call for Scale and Political Will
Omei Bongos, leader of Gatefield’s Public Health Practice, said evidence on early detection is no longer in question.
“Early detection is proven. The question now is scale,” Ms. Bongos said. “Cancer outcomes are inseparable from the social determinants that shape people’s lives, and solving this remains one of the most solvable policy failures in global health.”