Northeast, Feb 4: As one out of every four men in Aizawl, Papumpare, East Khasi Hills, and Kamrup urban districts in the northeast, are likely to develop cancer in the age group of 0 to 74 years, oncologists, on the eve of World Cancer Day on Friday, has warned that a higher percentage of youth consuming tobacco means a large number of the young population being at the risk of developing cancer even before they reach old age.
In the northeast, around 45,200 new cancer cases are being diagnosed every year and Assam alone contributes to 34,076 cases.
As per the National Cancer Registry Programme report for 2020 released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR) Northeast India has the highest incidence of cancer in India
Mizoram has the highest incidence of cancer-affected people with 207.0 men and 172.3 women per one lakh populations.
The report further added that the cancer of the lung, mouth, stomach and oesophagus were the most common among men, while cancer of the breast, cervix uteri was most common among women.
A high prevalence of tobacco use, both smoked and smokeless, is noted in the NE region. The alarming figures rather indicate the regional belt as the cancer capital of India.
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Proper awareness in cancer education prominently in rural areas is the need of the hour to prevent the causes of cancer and to remove misconceptions and stigma associated with the disease. Experts suggest that timely treatment or diagnosis can help lower the risk of fatalities.
As per reports, cancer treatment delay is a problem in health systems worldwide. Even a four-week delay of cancer treatment is associated with increased mortality across surgical, systemic treatment, and radiotherapy indications for seven cancers.
Policies focused on minimising system-level delays to cancer treatment initiation could improve population-level survival outcomes.
On the occasion of World Cancer Day, a report on monitoring surveys of cancer risk factors and health system response in the region will be released by Kataki. The report is being published by the National Center for Disease Informatics and Research under the Indian Council of Medical Research. Kataki said establishing a cancer risk factor surveillance system is essential to track changes implement a suitable intervention and evaluate impact.
