Cancer screening among women abysmally low

Nitin Jain
Ludhiana, April 26

Even as the incidence of cancer among women was on the rise, a few women go for screening to detect cancer at the preliminary stage in the district, a national survey has revealed.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, has showed that an average of 0.5 per cent women aged between 30 and 49 years had ever opted for screening to detect cervical cancer, breast cancer or oral cancer in them in the district.

The current survey, fifth in the NFHS series, which provides information on population, health and nutrition for India and each state and union territory, with district-level estimates for many important indicators, a copy of which is with The Tribune, indicated that 0.8 per cent women in the 30-49 age group had ever undergone a screening test for cervical cancer, 0.4 per cent had ever undergone a breast examination for breast cancer, and mere 0.3 per cent had ever undergone an oral cavity examination for detection of oral cancer.

Ludhiana’s figures were almost half than an overall average of 1.5 per cent women undergoing cancer screening in the state with 2.4 per cent women undergoing screening for cervical cancer, 0.3 per cent undergoing breast examination for breast cancer and 0.4 per cent undergoing an oral cavity examination for oral cancer.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has put cancer as the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths, or one in six deaths, in 2018. Breast, colorectal, lung, cervical and thyroid cancer are the most common among women while lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach and liver cancer are the most common types of cancer in men.

The studies have revealed that cancer in all forms causes about 12 per cent of deaths throughout the world. In developed countries, cancer is the second leading cause of death next to only cardiovascular diseases, accounting for 21 per cent of deaths while in developing countries, cancer ranks third as the cause of death accounting for 9.5 per cent of all deaths.

In India, cancer prevalence was estimated to be around 2 to 2.5 million, with over 7 to 9 lakh new cases being detected every year due to the dreaded disease.

A recent report by the Health Department said over 70 per cent of the cases report for diagnostic and treatment services in the advanced stages of the disease, which had led to a poor survival and high mortality rate.

In 2016, the state government had asked state-run hospitals to encourage all women above 40 years of age visiting health institutions to get themselves examined for any symptoms of breast cancer. The move was aimed at early detection of initial symptoms of breast cancer among the women and those detected with any abnormal lump or symptom were referred for further investigations to rule out the possibility of breast cancer.

The atlas on cancer in Punjab has revealed that six districts — Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mohali, Jalandhar, Faridkot and Mansa — have higher incidence of cancer as per the Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP).

In women, breast cancer was found most prevalent in Bathinda and Mohali districts, vagina in Ludhiana and Bathinda, ovary in Mohali and brain cancer in Moga and Mohali, while penile cancer in Faridkot and Bathinda, prostate in Jalandhar, urinary bladder in Kapurthala and Jalandhar and brain cancer in Mohali and Mansa were detected most common in men.

In 2016, Punjab had become the first state in the country to offer free cervical cancer vaccination for girls studying in Class VI and dropouts in the age group of 11 to 12 years. Cervical is the second most common cancer among women in the country and it claims the lives of 2.5 lakh women globally and 67,000 in India every year. This comes to one cervical cancer death every eight minutes.