Control of Cancer in West Bengal, India by Screening and Awareness Program

ABSTRACT Background In India there are about 2.5 million cancer patients and it increases by 1 million new cancer patients every year, which is 1/10 of total cancer burden in the world. The aim of our state based non-governmental Cancer Control Program is to reduce the cancer burden by proper awareness and screening. We also intended to teach about the early symptoms of cancer so that it can be detected early to provide appropriate treatment. Our motto is to serve people residing in remote villages of West Bengal where there are no modern medical facilities available for detection of cancer. Material and methods During the period of January 2004–April 2012, a cancer screening & awareness program had been conducted in various districts of West Bengal, twice in every month by the members of NSCBCRI. We mainly dealt with oral, lung, breast and cervical cancer. We organized the awareness camps on a prefixed day with prior permission of the representatives. The cases which were detected positive were sent to our hospital for proper treatment and advanced cases were advised for pain and palliative treatment in our institution. Result More than 80% of people participated spontaneously in awareness camps. Female cancer incidence was about 60%. We observed tobacco habits in 80% of males & 10% of females. The percentage of passive smokers among females is very high in West Bengal. Among 144256 screened population, we found 11541 (8.0%) cancer patients in different stages of the disease. Ratio of male and female patients was 3:2. A total of 4986 (72%) male and 1200 (26%) female cancers were tobacco related. Among females the incidence of cervical and breast cancer were 34% and 23%, respectively. Among male oral and lung cancer incidence were 32% and 35%, respectively. About 67% of the cancer had been detected at an early stage. Conclusion Through camps in remote rural areas of West Bengal we came to know that the majority of cancer cases are life style related. This can only be prevented by proper awareness camps. So, cancer detection and awareness camps are essential and important in rural areas to reduce the huge burden of cancer. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.