‘Cancer is tripling and will keep increasing’: first African to lead global action against disease ready for battle | Global development
When Dr Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu last saw Gloria in Abuja, the young breast cancer patient was so ill that she was in hospital. The cancer had spread to her bones and lungs, and she was struggling with complications from the disease. Then, at a global conference on cancer thousands of miles away in Hong Kong last month, Bagudu saw her again. Gloria was walking with a stick because of the cancer in her hips, but she was attending sessions, speaking about her experience and advocating for other patients. “I saw her hopping on the corridor here. I was shocked,” Bagudu recalled. Bagudu was recounting this story on the sidelines of the World Cancer Congress in Hong Kong, attended by more than 2,000 people from 124 countries. A Nigerian paediatrician and advocate for cancer patients, Bagudu is president-elect of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) – the first African to lead the organisation. She takes up the role as cancer cases and deaths are projected to rise sharply, with the greatest increases expected in poorer countries. …







