World Cancer Day today: Call for equal access to reduce premature cancer deaths by 25 per cent
Together, breast and cervical cancer account for 42.2 per cent of cancer deaths among women in India. Together, breast and cervical cancer account for 42.2 per cent of cancer deaths among women in India.
For every two women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer, one will die of the disease. Together, breast and cervical cancer account for 42.2 per cent of cancer deaths among women in India. On February 4, observed as World Cancer Day, health professionals and supporters of the cause across the country and across the world are pushing for urgent action to reduce the rate of premature cancer deaths globally. Spearheaded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), World Cancer Day is observed under the tagline “We can. I can”, which explores how everyone — as a collective or as individuals — can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer.
The UICC has called for equal access to reduce premature cancer and non-communicable disease-related deaths by 25 per cent by 2025, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) targets. Dr Anil D’Cruz, a board member of the UICC and a cancer surgeon at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, said while Sutapa Biswas, the Executive Director, Cancer Foundation of India, pointed out that there was a need to achieve greater equity in cancer care.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Globocan, 2012, data, cases of cancer incidences in India were estimated at 1,014,934, with an annual cancer mortality of 682,830. In a statement issued here, Professor Sanchia Aranda, the President of UICC said there were an estimated 8.8 million deaths from cancer globally, every year. However, it is the low middle-income countries that are bearing the brunt, as approximately 70 per cent of the deaths occur in developing countries, Aranda said.
Dr A Nandakumar, the former head of the National Cancer Registry Programme of the Indian Council of Medical Research said, according to estimates of the NCRP, by 2020, the burden of cancer is likely to be 17.35 lakh new cases with almost an equal number of male and female. Cancer due to the use of tobacco will be around 30 per cent with about 5.2 lakh new cases in 2020. Breast cancer, with 1.8 lakh new cases, will be the leading single-organ site of cancer and it is all in females. Breast cancer is followed closely by the lymphomas and leukaemias (1.5 lakh new cases) and then by cancer of the lung (1.4 lakh new cases), mouth (1.3 lakh) and cancer of the cervix (1.0 lakh new cases).
“With rising trends in the occurrence of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, diabetes and cancer among others, the need for at least a picture, if not estimates, in various parts of the country is essential. Large parts of the western world are completely covered by cancer registration. It enables these countries to get an exact count of cancer cases in the country as a whole or within specific populations thereof,” said Nandakumar.
“Added to this, they have a robust system of registration and certification of cause of death. It helps not only to obtain accurate estimates of cancer mortality but also providing population-based cancer survival information. In India around 12 per cent of the population is covered by cancer registration and there are several drawbacks in the system and certification of exact cause of death.”
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