It’s time people stopped living in the illusion that they can’t be afflicted with cancer. Cancer is climbing the Indian graph due to rapid lifestyle changes, adding nearly a million new cases every year.
While cancer of the breast and cervix are most common among women, men suffer from neck, throat and prostate cancer.
“We have one million new cancer cases coming up every year in India. In the last decade, lifestyle related causes have increased our susceptibility to the disease — it’s now time to drop the attitude – ‘how me’,” P.K. Julka, professor of clinical oncology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, told IANS.
“Tobacco consumption is increasing; so there is a rise in lung, neck and throat cancer. Among women, late marriage, early menarche and late menopause are some of the causes of breast cancer. Women are exposed to the female hormone at an early age and that increases the risk of breast cancer,” Julka explained.
According to Julka, breast cancer has overtaken cervical cancer to become the leading type of cancer in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Bhopal, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.
In India, the number of new breast cancer cases is about 115,000 per year and this is expected to rise to 250,000 new cases per year by 2015.
“If we closely look at the lifestyle of patients coming to us these days, we get to see that there is hardly any physical exercise, the pollution levels are high, food habits are not healthy, sexual habits have changed, and people have lost connect with what we used to call healthy living,” Kishore Singh, director and professor, head of department of radiotherapy at the Loknayak Hospital, told IANS.
While the ministry of health has a National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) and a National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) that maps the prevalence of the disease, experts feel the fight against cancer is still too far from reaching the goals of awareness and prevention.
“There is serious research missing in cancer tracking that will help us get more accurate figures. Unlike HIV-AIDS, we do not have a strong national policy for cancer that focusses on prevention, disease management and rehabilitation,” said R. Ranga Rao, director, medical oncology, BLK Cancer Centre.
Under the NCCP, there are currently 28 regional cancer centres country-wide that are tertiary cancer care centres, providing all facilities of diagnosis and treatment.
Experts believe that once the disease is notified by the government, the picture of cancer prevalence could be clearer and help in drafting a proper policy at a time when cancer is already in the ministry limelight as a non-communicable disease.
“If the cancer case is compulsorily reported, we will know the true burden of the disease, how many people are affected and the type of cancer plaguing the population,” Julka says, adding that the “decision may come soon”.
Experts say the country should not fall weak on awareness and prevention methods for cancer of any type.
“When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, he or she goes into shock. If we have a little knowledge about screening methods, awareness about causes and report to the doctor even on observing the slightest of change in physicality, then we can at least diagnose the disease early,” Singh said.
Also read: War on Cancer
Source: IANS
First Published: Mar 27, 2012 at 5:08 PM
[...] over one million new cancer cases reportedly coming up every year in India, there is an urgent need for the intervention of the Government in [...]
[...] and a more sedentary lifestyle. While it’s hard to pin a number, it’s believed that around one million people get cancer every year and this number could rise significantly if measures aren’t [...]
i want to wat that main resion of cancer in india our corupet govt. becouse they have settele many forgien contery industery in india which make too much poltion enviorment they made poltion in water and in the air xhich is going in our pepole and they came victem of cancer so i want to sugest that if we want live our contery and pepole for this we have remove all thing is making polution so think about this and please reply me
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As a 16 year old male, your chances of haivng breast cancer are as close to aero as makes no difference. Men do get breast cancer, but fewer than 1% of those diagnosed with breast cancer are male, and most men diagnosed with it are over 60 though through breast cancer support groups I have met a very few men with breast cancer in their 50s..80% of all people diagnosed with breastcancer are over 50. It’s rare in women under 40, fewer than 0.1% of women diagnosed are under 30, and it’s almost unheard of in under 25s.So you can see how unlikely it would be for a teenage male to have breast cancer.Most breast lumps in men are a condition called gynaecomastia, a button-like growth under the nipple and areola area that can be felt and is sometimes visible to the naked eye and occasionally it can be quite tender.This increase in the amount of breast tissue is not a tumour and occurs due to changes in hormone balances at times like adolescence your age in other words.If your talking about about lumps you can feel in both breasts, then it’s even less likely (if possible) to be anything sinister the chances of breast cancer occuring in the same spot/s in both breasts simultaneously are tiny for anyone, and in a teenager (let alone a male one) the case would make medical history.What you’re feeling is almost certainly completely normal; mention it to your doctor next time you have an appointment with him/her, so that s/he can reassure you. But stop worrying about breast cancer.
Very interesting indeed. But I will agree with Bir and Dilip. Even I have come across a few people which good and healthy habits, but they passed away due to cancer. There are so many women out there who have been affected by and are fighting breast cancer.
It is really important to create awareness about cancer and enlighten people so they can take appropriate preventive steps.
This article is very interesting, allow me to post this article to let everyone know
I have very good doctor friend who was diagonised tongue cancer,whom i know from his childhood who has very good eating habits etc…..Why is this happening please guide us in the treatment or if there is any alternate medicine which can help in recovering, please guide
I have came across 4 to5 cases who had no bad habits and normal life , even though they died due to cancer.
What extra care to be taken in food habits ?
Please guide
It’s easy to say life style changes are cause of cancer and other emerging diseases. Why don’t experts suggest a life style by their own example? I have a suggestion. Eat raw foods. Be compromising in the beginning. Eat and drink only and only when you are hungry/thirsty. This is the only way out for perfect health and happiness. Unfortunately the experts neither practice it nor preach it.