Cancer control: FG strengthens cancer registry, trains data experts

The federal government has taken a major step towards strengthening its cancer control framework as the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), in collaboration with the African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN), trained 24 cancer registrars and data managers drawn from the 19 northern States to improve the quality, accuracy and completeness of cancer data used for national and global decision making.

The capacity-building programme, held over the weekend in Bauchi State, brought together cancer registrars, data managers, and coders from across Northern Nigeria, underscoring the growing national concern over the reliability of cancer surveillance data amid rising cancer incidence.

The training focused on standardising cancer registration processes, coding, staging, and data management, in line with national and international best practices, as Nigeria works to strengthen evidence-based planning, policy formulation, and resource allocation in cancer care.

Declaring the training open, the Director General of NICRAT, Prof Usman Aliyu, said the initiative was deliberately designed to close critical gaps in cancer data generation and reporting across the northern states.

Represented by the Head of the Nigerian Cancer Registry, Prof Sani Malami, the NICRAT DG said the training was aimed at enhancing the capacity of cancer registrars and data managers to improve the quality, accuracy, and completeness of cancer registration.

He charged the participants to maximise the opportunity to deepen their technical skills and improve their understanding of how reliable cancer data supports effective decision-making in Nigeria’s health sector.

According to him, strengthening cancer registries remains central to improving cancer outcomes nationwide, noting that quality data is the foundation for prevention strategies, early detection, treatment planning, and policy interventions.

Aliyu further disclosed that similar capacity-building programmes have been conducted for cancer registrars and data managers from other geopolitical zones of the country as part of a coordinated national strategy to strengthen cancer surveillance.

He stressed that NICRAT remains committed to improving the cancer situation in Nigeria through continuous training and retraining of experts across the full spectrum of medical and health professions.

Prof Malami revealed that the Institute has so far trained more than 1,600 medical and health professionals across the six geopolitical zones in various aspects of cancer care, reflecting a sustained investment in human capacity development.

The Coordinator of the AFCRN, Oxford, United Kingdom, Prof Max Parkin, emphasised the urgent need to strengthen cancer registration in Nigeria, particularly in the area of data quality.

He said improved data quality was essential for Nigeria’s cancer burden to be accurately represented in global publications and international research outputs.

While commending NICRAT for its collaboration with AFCRN, Parkin urged cancer registrars nationwide to further strengthen their capacity through continuous learning.

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He specifically charged all cancer registrars in the country “to go through the GICR e-learning course on cancer registration so as to be equipped with the needed information, knowledge, and capacity to strengthen cancer registration in Nigeria.”

On his part, the Acting Director of Cancer Surveillance and Monitoring at NICRAT, Dr Joy Iya Benson, described the training as a critical intervention targeted at improving cancer data quality.

She noted that cancer has become a growing public health concern in Nigeria, making it imperative to strengthen surveillance systems through robust population-based cancer registries.

According to her, building the capacity of registrars remains a key pillar of effective cancer surveillance and control.

Dr Iya Benson explained that the training was carefully structured to improve participants’ skills in data abstraction, coding, staging, and analysis in line with National Cancer Registry standards.

She said, “Additionally, the training was aimed at improving their proficiency in the use of relevant software, standard operating manual, and building survival analysis.

“All these were geared towards achieving high-quality, complete, and timely cancer registry records that support research and policy for decision making.”

Stakeholders said the training signals renewed urgency by health authorities to address longstanding weaknesses in cancer data systems, particularly in underserved regions, as Nigeria seeks to align with global standards in cancer surveillance and response.