According to a study in 2008, cervical cancer is the common and biggest killer of Indian women among all cancers claiming one life every seven minutes. But now the study findings have confirmed that breast cancer is the most dreadful form of cancer among all cancers. An urban woman’s bane claimed one life every 10 minutes with breast cancer.
A project prepared by World Health Organisation agency for Research on cancer(IARC), Globocan 2012 has used data from the Indian Census in 2011 to analyse that breast cancer has upstaged cervical cancer as the most common and awful cancer among Indian women. Head of Tata Memorial Centre and a breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Rajendra A Badwe has stated, “The figures are still an estimate but we do believe that breast cancer is the most common cancer among Indian women today”.
Globocan 2012 data shows that breast cancer kills 25 out of every 1 lakh women in India and cervical kills 22. Talking about his study on cancer, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director at Indian Centre of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that there is a direct link between the incidence of cervical cancer and a lack of hygiene and sanitation. When countries develop hygiene and sanitation improves, there is an automatic decrease in cervical cancer rates. Further he stated that for some reason we have not yet fully understood, the incidence of breast cancer increases with development. India is clearly going through this phase that other developed countries have witnessed
Medical oncologist from Hinduja Hospital, Mahim, Dr Sachin Almel felt that the medical community and governmental agencies had managed to create awareness about the need for women to undergo early pap smear tests to detect cervical cancer.
The number of women killed by breast cancer had been increased in last two decades.
