Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. World Cancer Day is observed on February 4 every year to raise awareness about the deadly disease and to encourage its prevention, detection and treatment. The theme of cancer day this year in 2020 is “I am and I will”. Cancer is seen as the second leading cause of death on the global scale. It happens when a cell in the tissue grows abnormally on an uncontrolled rate, which also increases the rate of risk of death.
The primary goal of observing the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and a death caused by cancer and is an opportunity to rally the international community to end the injustice of preventable suffering from cancer.
The cancer cases are on a rise in India. Most common types of cancer in India are colorectal, Lung, breast and cervical cancers, which is believed to be caused due to poor lifestyles and living conditions in our country.
Besides the use of tobacco, which is also a high rate at 22% of death caused by cancer, one third of deaths from cancer are due to high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake and lack of physical activity.
Dr BK Sharma, noted Oncologist of Nagpur told TLN “Nagpur has a high rate of Oral, Cervical and Breast cancer which is at 33% of oral, 28% of breasts and 26% of cervix”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that countries with low and middle income have a high rate of 70 percent of deaths due to cancer.
Reports show that the cancer burden in India has decreased; this could be due to an increased effort from the government and the medical community to raise awareness on the early detection of cancers and provide more avenues for cancer screening which means that cases that were earlier going undetected and untreated are now being discovered and recorded.
