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Journalism of Courage
The National Cancer Registry Programme report for 2020 says that cancers related to the use of tobacco is highest in the North East region, and says that tobacco-related cancers are estimated to contribute 3.7 lakh (27.1 per cent) of the total cancer burden this year.
For women, the cancer incidence rate ranges from 219.8 per 1,00,000 population in Arunachal Pradesh’s Papumpare district to 49.4 per 1,00,000 population in Osmanabad and Beed.
These estimates are based on information related to cancer collected from 28 Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCRs). Additionally, 58 Hospital Based Cancer Registries (HBCRs) provided cancer data.
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, deputy director of the Centre for Cancer Epidemiology at Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai told The Indian Express that there is very high tobacco use in Aizawl, leading to such a high burden of cancer in men, while breast cancer and cervical cancer is also high.
Chaturvedi said that the TMC has a strong presence in Maharashtra, and the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Centre has also been providing low cost interventions for treating cancer. “Multiple studies are also underway in Beed district to understand if there are genetic influences due to which there is a low burden of cancer here,” he said.
According to the report, cancer of lung, mouth, stomach and oesophagus were the most common cancers among men, while for women, cancer of breast and cervix uteri were the most common. A significant increase in the incidence rates of breast cancers in women, and lung and head and neck cancers in both men and women was observed in most of the registries. However, a declining trend was seen in most of the registries for cancer of the cervix.
