Usually everybody is asking how is it to be the first woman President of AORTIC and I start saying I don’t know because I will become the President only tomorrow so I would suggest you’d better ask me in two years’ time how it was to become or to be the first woman President. Many people are asking what is AORTIC and who is AORTIC and how can actually AORTIC, as an organisation, change the history of cancer care on the continent which is so much needed for all.
Again, the answer is very simple and I ask them if they are members of AORTIC. So if they are not members of AORTIC they should become members of this organisation. AORTIC is, in one simple answer, us. So that means you and him and her and me, all of us together - people who care about Africa, people who care about patients, people who believe in a better world and in a better future in patients who are affected by cancer on the African continent and who wish to transform that for the better, so increasing the survival rate and definitely giving a better quality of life.
Can you talk about your keynote topic?
The keynote was about the vision for AORTIC. I actually didn’t have much time to prepare, it was a very short presentation on short notice as I was thinking hard what should be the topic of the keynote. As I was replacing, actually, the Minister of Health in Nigeria I was asking myself should I start and give my talk as how is it to be a Minister of Health in Africa. Then I realised that perhaps I don’t have much knowledge on the daily business of what the Minister does in Africa. Then, of course, the second question was should I talk as a President of AORTIC? Again, I don’t think that I have enough experience or knowledge because I will start my term only from tomorrow.
So in the context of the double burden of disease and the high increased childhood and maternal mortality and infectious diseases and new diseases and poverty and climate change and as many items as you want, I decided for my talk to concentrate on the positive side. I decided to ask what does Africa have to offer. Instead of really looking at non-functional or limited cancer registries and still the need for more national cancer control plans and poor infrastructure, a need for more doctors, I keep on asking myself what does Africa offer Then starting from there come up with all sorts of ideas from the fantastic opportunity and creativity of the people living in Africa to what we call the Africa-grown solutions and then the need, obviously, for further collaboration and partnership.
How do you see the future of AORTIC?
As a President of AORTIC definitely I will strive to strengthen the collaboration and partnership within Africa, within the continent. I think it is absolutely essential for us to be able to work together. I will strive as well to increase the collaboration and partnership worldwide, so with any organisation, any groups, any societies who have the same interests and the same aims as us, so a better healthcare for our patients and a better future for everyone. Another question that I keep asking – we know that the population in Africa today is just above one billion and we also know that we did grow a lot. If we look, let’s say, in 1900 we were only a few hundred million. If we keep growing like that, looking at the estimation, by 2100 we will be 4.5 billion. Perhaps that might not tell you much but I can translate it as saying that one in three will be African.
How do we combat this?
Again, I believe that if we will be able to work together, despite all the hurdles and challenges, we will be able to make progress and the change which is so much needed for all of us.
