Requirement of Awareness About Oral Cavity Cancer

In the previous article, we read about cancer in India. In that article, we read about, the situation of breast cancer in India. We saw that literacy within women plays a vital role in the awareness of cancer. Along with breast cancer, oral cancer also causes lots of deaths in India. In cinema theatres, we have seen advertisements showing the harmful effects of cigarettes and tobacco products on our health.

The tobacco market in India is very large. India is the second-largest producer and third-largest exporter of tobacco in the world. The tobacco industry provides employment to ~46 Mn people. With the evolving facilities provided by the Tobacco Board of India, the market has recorded a total (manufactured and unmanufactured tobacco) export of INR 60.84 Bn in FY 2018. Consumption of tobacco in the form of cigarettes or direct consumption leads to various forms of oral cancers.

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In NFHS, the percentage of people ever undergone an oral cavity examination for oral cancer is also measured. In NFHS 5 state-wise distribution of this percentage is very much similar. Most of the states fit in the lower percentage class.

As we can also see in the map, the state-wise distribution is very poor, but on the other hand, we can notice variations in the district-wise map.

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Due to various reasons, the data for some districts is not available, and hence it is not shown on the map. Even if we can see some variations in district-wise variations.

We can see that majority of districts lie in the category of 0 to 2% of people ever undergone an oral cavity examination for oral cancer. Outlying districts are on the eastern coast of India. Predominantly coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh have a higher percentage of people ever undergone an oral cavity examination for oral cancer.

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Cancer is one of the major causes of death in India. As per some reports, the growth rate of cancer is 1.1-2 per cent annually. While answering a question in Lok Sabha, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandviya said that more than 40 lakh cancer cases were reported and 22.54 lakh people died of the disease in the country between 2018 and 2020. Though with new medicines and new technology, cancer up to a certain stage is curable, awareness about the cancer is necessary. Also, the consumption of tobacco is one of the major causes of oral cancers, which is completely avoidable. Today, through various awareness campaigns we see the harmful side effects of tobacco products. Even the health warning is printed on the packaging of such products. It is necessary for people to pay attention to such warnings and stop the consumption of products which can cause cancer.