Okapi Foundation Calls for Earlier Childhood Cancer Detection in Abuja

The Okapi Cancer Foundation has called for increased support for childhood cancer awareness and early detection during its Okapi Children Cancer Walk 2026 in Abuja, Nigeria.

The event was designed to raise public awareness, encourage participation and mobilise resources for children living with cancer and their families. It also marked the foundation’s 10-year anniversary and highlighted its work supporting affected children.

Hope Tobi, a child survivor affiliated with the foundation, joined other survivors and supporters at the walk. She described the experience as encouraging for young people living with the disease.

“I feel very happy joining the walk because I walked with survivors like me and supporters,” Tobi said.

She added that the event offered reassurance to children facing cancer. “The walk was exciting because in every step we make, there is hope for children, informing them they are not fighting alone,” she said.

Focus on public education

Oluwakemi Adekanye, founder of the Okapi Cancer Foundation, said public understanding of childhood cancer was essential to improving support for children and identifying warning signs.

“So it is important as adults to be aware of what childhood cancer is, common signs and symptoms to look out for in childhood cancer, and that is why we do what we do. We want people to be aware of childhood cancer and how they can effectively support a child,” Adekanye said.

The foundation said early detection was critical to reducing the impact of childhood cancer on children. According to the organisation, its support programmes have reached more than 250 children living with cancer, while its awareness campaigns have reached thousands of students and community members across Nigeria.

Those figures were provided by the foundation and were not independently verified in the source report.

Grassroots outreach

Dr. Ikenna Igbodika, a member of the foundation’s management team, said the organisation uses events and community activities to explain its work and engage people directly.

“So a lot of education is done when we bring people. Their coming here is an implication, and they are educated on what we are doing and begin to see the reality,” Igbodika said.

He said the foundation also works beyond formal events by reaching communities at the grassroots level.

“We go into the grassroots, into the corners, to get people involved, and they say, ‘Oh, this is what these people do?’” he said.

期待ations for stronger support

Adekanye said the foundation hoped the Nigerian government would give greater priority to childhood cancer in the coming year. She also expressed hope that children would be included in a recently referenced cancer health fund.

“I understand that children will be included in the recent cancer health fund now, and we’re hoping that once that is implemented and put in place, there should be more progress and success for children with cancer,” she said.

The source report did not confirm whether children had formally been included in the fund or when any implementation would take place. It also did not state how much money, if any, was raised through the walk.