According to a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), one woman dies of cervical cancer every eight minutes and of every two women diagnosed with breast cancer, one dies of it.
The report further stated that in India 2.5 million people are living with cancer.
At the onset of World cancer Day, which falls on 4 February, Suraksha Diagnostic Limited organised a Women’s Cancer Awareness session. Eminent Doctors including Dr Gitasree Mukherjee, gynaecologist, Bhagirathi Neotia Women and Child Care Centre, Dr Sandipan Chowdhury, gynaecological oncologist, Manipal Hospitals and Dr Asima Mukhopadhyay, gynaecological oncologist spoke about three types cancer in women, namely, breast, ovarian and cervical and ways to prevent them.
A cervical cancer screening study was released. It was carried out on 1,100 tea garden workers of Darjeeling district under the Prevention of Cervical Cancer, an international award winning project of Kolkata Gynaecological Oncology Trials and Translational Research Group (KOLGOTRG) using the gene X pert technology.
It was found that 10 per cent of the women who were screened had been tested positive for high risk HPV (Human Papillomavirus) which caused cervical cancer in women. They received free treatment at their workplaces for preventing the risk of developing cervical cancer which takes 10 to 15 years to emerge. The initiative proposes to do screening of 1 lakh women.
January is cervical cancer awareness month. It is the most common cancer among women in India. It takes the lives or around 70,000 women in India. It accounts for nearly 22.86 per cent of all cancer cases among women in India and 12 per cent of all cancer cases in both men and women. Rural women are more prone to cervical cancer in comparison to women living in the urban areas.