The Indian Cancer Society (ICS) on Monday launched a campaign in the city to spread awareness of cancer among underprivileged women and enable early detection of the disease. Swasth Naari, Shakti Hamaari, which was kicked off on the occasion of World Cancer Day, has been organised in collaboration with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
“With the increasing cancer cases in women, there is an urgent need to raise awareness of early detection at the grassroots level,” said Naveen Kshatriya, honorary secretary and managing trustee of ICS.
The campaign aims to conduct free and specialised cancer-screening camps for women in high-priority districts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
“According to a survey by cancerindia.org, one woman dies of cervical cancer every eight minutes in India and for every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, only one of them survives. The data shows the need for early detection of cancer in women,” Dr. Vinay Deshmane, joint secretary of ICS, said.
Two cancer survivors, Pooja Pardesi and Akansha Gupta from Ugam, an NGO that provides support to cancer survivors, especially children, shared their stories of struggle.
“Cancer diagnosed in Western countries is three times more than India. But, the mortality rate in India is higher than those counties. The reason is the early detection, which can lead to lowering the cost of treatment and increasing the chances of survival,” Dr. Deshmane said.
After the launch of the campaign, 1,000 women were screened for oral, breast and cervical cancers. “We are pleased to partner with the ICS and other partners to achieve our shared vision of curing cancer through early detection. Women’s health is linked to access to available resources and we believe that opportunistic screening with a robust framework to link them to the healthcare system is an important pathway to address this challenge,” said Gagan Singh, country president and managing director of AstraZeneca.
