National Cancer Awareness Day 2022: History, Facts, Significance, and List of govt initiatives to fight cancer

November 7 is observed as National Cancer Awareness Day in India every year. The celebration aims to raise awareness about this deadly disease that kills almost 10 lakh people every year. The importance of this day is growing every year just like As the number of cancer patients is rising in the country, so is the importance of this day that aims to prevent cancer casualty in India by facilitating mass awareness, early detection and prevention.

History:

National Cancer Awareness Day was first announced and observed in September 2014 by then Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. The date of November 7 is a tribute to the Nobel laureate Marie Curie who was born on this date in 1867, and whose research led to the development of radiotherapy to treat cancer.

Facts about Cancer in India

• As per the latest data, some 11 lakh of cancer cases are reported in the country each year and the 3 primary variants of cancer in India in descending order are breast, cervical and oral cancer.
• Cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most prevalent cancer in India and accounts for nearly one-fourth of the world's cervical cancer deaths despite being largely preventable.
• Every year close to 1.25 lakhs women catch this disease and over 75 thousand of them ultimately die.
• The saddest part here is the disease is quite preventable with early detection and diagnosis and still, we are losing so many lives to it.
• Cervical cancer can easily be prevented through vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV).
• It is estimated that HPV types 16 and 18 (HPV-16 and HPV-18) together contribute to approximately 70% of all invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is a leading cause of death globally, responsible for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020.
• Cancer in the lungs, colon and rectum, liver, stomach and breast, respectively, was the most common cause of death due to the disease in 2021.
• India has 25-30 lakh cancer patients even as I write and you read.
• What is worrying is that this number is expected to grow anifold in coming years.
• As per one estimate, every one in ten Indians is susceptible to cancer in some form.
• We had some 18 million cancer cases globally in 2018, of which 1.5 million were in India alone.
• And out of 9.5 million death due to cancer globally, 0.8 million - or 8 lakh - were Indians.
• It is expected that the number of new cases of cancer in the country will double well before 2040.
• A woman dies of cervical cancer every 8 minutes in India.
• Tobacco (smoked and smokeless) use accounted for 3,17,928 deaths in men and women in 2018.
• Cancers of the oral cavity and lungs account for over 25% of cancer deaths in males and cancer of the breast and oral cavity account for 25% of cancers in females.

What Steps the Government is taking to fight Cancer?

National Programme For Prevention And Control Of Cancer

Central Government provides technical and financial support to the States/UTs Under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), as part of the National Health Mission (NHM).

How does it help on the ground?

• By strengthening infrastructure, and equipment and developing human resources needed to fight cancer.
• Moreover, it also focuses on awareness generation for prevention, early diagnosis, management and referral to an appropriate level of healthcare facility for the treatment of cancer.

List of government schemes to help people fight cancer in India

Does the Ayushman Bharat Scheme cover cancer? Yes, absolutely!

• Treatment of cancers is also available under Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
• Moreover, Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) Deendayal outlets have been opened at 203 Institutions/Hospitals.
• The objective is to make available drugs and implants at discounted prices to patients.
• Apart from these, financial assistance is provided to families living below the Poverty Line for their treatment in Government hospitals Under the umbrella scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi.

But there aren't many good government cancer hospitals around

• Government is aware of this scarcity that thousands of cancer patients in the country have to flock to a few metro cities in search of quality and affordable cancer treatment.
• With this in mind, 19 State Cancer Institutes and 20 Tertiary Care Cancer Centres have been approved by the central government.
• Once they get operational, cancer patients can get quality and affordable cancer treatment within their state.

Cancer medicines are costly. What is the government doing?

NPPA and bringing down the anti-cancer medicine costs

Cancer not only plays with people's lives but their finances as well. You might come out of cancer alive but it's very difficult to beat it without losing a large chunk of your bank balance, if you had any, to begin with. So what's the solution?

• It's true that the heavy cost of treating cancer can force patients and households into acute misery, destitution, and even insolvency.
• Therefore cancer drugs need to be affordable so that they can easily reach every hand that seeks them.
• Availability and affordability of cancer drugs will go a long way in bringing down the cost of treatment as well as the number of casualties.
• NPPA is a government agency responsible for regulating the prices of essential medicines in India including those for cancer.
• However, not many anti-cancer drugs are part of that regulated list and it poses a big problem.
• More cancer medicines are needed to be brought under this essential list so that cancer treatment in the country becomes more affordable.