Nigerian Doctor Brings Life-Saving Cancer Care to Africa

When Dr. Abba Mallum paid for a young Nigerian woman's taxi to have a breast lump removed, he thought he'd saved her life. Eight months later, he found her dying in his hospital, the tumor now fatal, because her family used the taxi money to buy food after going hungry for three days.

That heartbreaking encounter in Borno State, Nigeria, changed everything. Mallum sat awake past midnight wrestling with a devastating reality: his region of 22 million people had zero oncology units and not a single radiation machine.

He made a decision that night to become an oncologist. But specializing in cancer treatment wasn't possible in Nigeria due to limited infrastructure, so he looked beyond his borders for training.

In 2014, Mallum landed at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where he completed a four-year master's degree in radiation oncology. He credits Professor Hannah Simonds, his mentor at Tygerberg Academic Hospital, as "the mother of oncology in Africa."

But Mallum didn't stop there. He moved to Durban and pursued what may be South Africa's first PhD in radiotherapy and oncology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His supervisor, Professor Mariza Vorster, confirms it was groundbreaking for the discipline.

His research tackled a critical question: Could shorter radiation treatments work safely for African cancer patients who often face additional health challenges like HIV? The standard treatment required patients to travel repeatedly over many weeks, creating impossible barriers for people living in poverty or rural areas.

The Ripple Effect

Mallum's findings are transforming cancer care across the continent. His research proved that hypofractionated radiotherapy, which condenses treatment into fewer sessions, works just as effectively as conventional treatment for breast, cervical, and prostate cancer patients in African settings.

This breakthrough means fewer hospital visits, lower travel costs, and less time away from work and family. For patients like that young woman who chose feeding her siblings over medical care, it removes devastating barriers between diagnosis and survival.

Today, Dr. Mallum works as a consulting oncologist at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban, greeting patients in Zulu and treating cancers that would have gone untreated in his home region. His work bridges continents and saves lives, one shortened treatment course at a time.

A woman he couldn't save sparked a career that now helps thousands access the cancer care they desperately need.