The OCI Foundation has called for the expansion of cancer prevention education across all National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps, warning that inconsistent implementation of its anti-cancer campaign continues to leave thousands of young Nigerians without access to potentially life-saving health information.
Founder and President of the OCI Foundation, Associate Professor Chris Ifediora, made the appeal on Monday in Abuja during the re-training of NYSC officers and state anchors for the Foundation’s Arm Our Youths (ArOY) Anti-Cancer Health Campaign, urging the NYSC leadership to institutionalise and scale up the programme nationwide.
Represented by the Foundation’s Permanent Liaison Officer to the NYSC, Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Rufai, Professor Chris Ifediora, said although the initiative has reached more than half a million corps members annually since its national rollout in 2022, coverage remains limited to between 19 and 23 of the country’s 37 orientation camps in recent editions.
He described the gap as a major challenge to equitable access to preventive healthcare for Nigerian youths.
“The reality is that, out of the possible 37 camps, we have consistently covered 19 to 23 in the recent editions over the past one to two years, and now need the help of the NYSC national leadership to achieve 100 per cent coverage across all 37 orientation camps at all times,” he said.
Health experts have repeatedly stressed that early detection remains one of the most effective strategies for reducing deaths from breast and cervical cancers, which remain among the leading cancers affecting women in Nigeria.
According to Ifediora, the campaign was conceived to ensure that young Nigerians are equipped with knowledge on cancer prevention and early detection before they leave orientation camps for their places of primary assignment.
He said the initiative, which began as a proposal to the NYSC more than six years ago and was officially launched nationally in February 2022, has evolved beyond awareness sessions into a broader youth health platform incorporating digital education, community outreach and volunteer engagement.
“The true impact cannot simply be measured by attendance figures. It is measured by cancers detected earlier, healthier behaviours adopted, informed families, empowered communities, and lives that may one day be saved because someone attended a thirty-minute health session during NYSC orientation,” he said.
The Foundation disclosed that over 500,000 corps members benefit directly from the programme annually, while hundreds of thousands more are reached through community development service activities and digital campaigns.
Beyond expanding camp coverage, the Foundation also appealed to the NYSC to formally establish an ArOY Health Campaign Community Development Service (CDS) group, arguing that such a structure would ensure continuity of health promotion activities throughout the service year.
“We plead with the NYSC leadership to urgently formalise the OCI Foundation’s ArOY Health Campaign CDS Group so as to create a permanent and sustainable volunteer structure which will ensure that health promotion activities are maintained seamlessly throughout the service year and beyond,” Ifediora said.
He added that the Foundation plans to strengthen cervical cancer screening services within NYSC camps through partnerships with national and international organisations while expanding its digital health tools, including the CerviBreast mobile application that provides cancer education, self-screening reminders, risk assessment and information on available screening centres.
The Foundation also announced plans to introduce another nationwide public health initiative known as Basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Response Strategies (BACERS) within the next year.
According to Ifediora, the programme will equip young Nigerians with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency response skills, complementing existing efforts on disease prevention.
He maintained that sustaining preventive healthcare among young people requires stronger collaboration between government institutions, civil society organisations and volunteers.
“The success of the ArOY Health Campaign has never belonged to the OCI Foundation alone. It belongs to every NYSC official who opened the camp gates to us, every volunteer who gave their time, every corps member who carried the message into communities and, most importantly, to Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the NYSC management, the Director of Public Development Services, Chief Chinwendu Chukwu, described the partnership as a timely intervention against two of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women, stressing that awareness and early detection remain critical to reducing mortality.
He said the campaign was designed not only to educate corps members but also to transform them into health advocates capable of taking life-saving messages to communities across the country.
“Cancer remains one of the leading public health challenges worldwide, with breast cancer and cervical cancer continuing to claim thousands of lives every year. The unfortunate reality is that many of these deaths can be prevented through awareness, regular screening and early detection,” Chukwu said.
Drawing parallels with previous public health interventions implemented through the NYSC, he recalled how corps members had been successfully deployed to support HIV awareness campaigns nationwide, expressing confidence that a similar model would help expand cancer prevention education.
He urged the state officials participating in the retraining to ensure that every corps member under their supervision benefits from the programme.
“We didn’t come here just to listen to lectures and return home. We expect that when you get back to your states, you will drive this process so that every corps member will have this knowledge and, when they get to their places of primary assignment, they will be able to educate members of their host communities,” he said.
Chukwu commended the OCI Foundation for partnering with the NYSC to strengthen preventive healthcare among young Nigerians, noting that collaboration remained essential to tackling the growing burden of cancer.
“Together, we are demonstrating that collaboration, education and early intervention are powerful tools in the fight against breast and cervical cancers,” he said.
He expressed optimism that the officers’ commitment to implementing the programme would contribute to reducing cancer cases through sustained awareness campaigns, early detection and community engagement.
“I’m confident that your dedication will contribute significantly to reducing the burden of cancer through awareness, early detection and community engagement,” Chukwu added.