Faridah Banwo: Promoting Palliative Care for Women with Gynecologic and Breast Cancers in Nigeria

Faridah Banwo, Project Manager for the Count Me In: Pain and Palliative Project at Project PINK BLUE, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“In 2022, we were told to start thinking about pain and palliative care for my mum, Khadijat Banwo-Fatai, after she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (mBC).

But at the time, that wasn’t even an option. In Abuja, Nigeria, there was no dedicated pain and palliative care center. That meant we had to keep fighting, harder, more expensive, and more isolating, doing anything possible to make the journey a little more bearable and pain-free. And for two more years, she fought with incredible strength.

Now, as the Project Manager for the Count Me In: Pain and Palliative Project at Project PINK BLUE, this work is deeply personal to me. It brings back into focus the very real struggles we endured and continue to see, because of the absence of accessible pain and palliative care services in Abuja.

This project, funded by the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) through the Dicey Scroggins Fund for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 2024, is committed to promoting equity and access to pain management and palliative care for marginalized women living with gynecologic and breast cancers in Nigeria.

To ensure that the intervention we are building truly meets the needs of the women it is designed for, I led a co-creation meeting on July 10th with survivors and patients. The session was an open, safe space that allowed women to speak freely about their realities. It wasn’t just a consultation, it was collaboration at its core, ensuring that what we create is not only meaningful but also deeply rooted in lived experience.

What they shared with us was heartbreaking, revealing pain that is far more than physical:

‘I am still having pains, and I am always prescribed diclofenac, even though I complained that it doesn’t work. How do I tell my mum that their daughter has cancer?

This is why I don’t want my face to be on social media. I have relatives and I know it’s going to break them. The pain is not only physical but emotional and psychological.

When I complained to my doctor about the pain, she advised me to go to the hospital’s emergency unit. Most times, they just dismiss me, dismiss us, our pain.’

These quotes highlight that pain in cancer care is not only physical. It is emotional, psychological, and deeply personal. It is shaped by stigma, fear, and often the absence of listening ears.

Through this project, we aim to change that.

We are building a system that listens to patients before, during, and after treatment. A system that sees them not only as survivors but as people who deserve full care, including relief from pain in all its forms.

Because no woman should have to fight her cancer, be in constant pain and still fight to be heard.”

Runcie C.W. Chidebe, Executive Director of Project PINK BLUE, shared this post on LinkedIn, adding:

“Pain and Palliative Care is one of the most important aspects of cancer continuum, however, it is highly neglected and ignored in Nigeria’s cancer control.

Several year ago, the American Cancer Society implemented Treat The Pain – a very important program to propelled accessibility, availability and affordability of pain medications. Special thanks to Megan and her team. We need such efforts to be expanded. Pain and Palliative Care must be integrated into the hospital systems as a unit or section with all its needs.

Access to pain management is frustrating for the patients and their caregivers, understanding of palliative care is also confusing to the cancer health system. I am so happy that our cancer patients are now coming out to be the voice for themselves. Nigeria cannot reduce the burden of care if we rely on only studies, we need the voices of patients, we need to listen and understand the patients and their needs.

Thank you so much Faridah Banwo for the incredible work that you with the Count Me In Pain and Palliative Care project. Well done to the Project PINK BLUE team. Special thanks to International Gynecologic Cancer Society for funding Project PINK BLUE.

Let’s make sure that the voices of women with gynaecologic cancers are heard and their needs addressed.”

More posts featuring Runcie Chidebe.