Contradicting the common belief that breast cancer is an urban disease, Dr P Raghuram, Padma Shri, and president of Association of Breast Surgeons of India, said on Saturday that the disease is increasing in rural areas, too.He said that the number of cervical cancer cases, has been catching up with the figures of breast cancer, which accounts for more than 20% of cancer cases in Indian women.
Raghuram, while talking on the sidelines of an event 'Gujarat Breast Meet-2016' here on Saturday , said that there is a need to train health workers to diagnose breast cancer."There is a social taboo about the cancer, and lack of awareness in women. Shockingly , the number of cervical cancer cases are catching up with that of breast cancer," he said.
"As the age of marriage has been raised, the gap between having two children has also increased and there is also a tendency to avoid breastfeeding These could have raised the occurrence of breast cancer among women in rural India," he said.
Raghuram has roped in health workers to screen women in rural areas. These health workers have travelled across 3,700 villages in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and saved thousands of women from falling prey to breast cancer.
Raghuram said that he has conducted this awareness programme in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, and wants the programme to be replicated in other Indian states, too. He said that as the country is highly populated, use of mammography to diagnose breast cancer is not possible. Therefore, health workers should be trained to detect the disease in early stages, he added.
"I have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding this issue as we wanted to replicate this screening programme in other states. At present, we want to implement it in Karnataka and Gujarat. If this succeeds, then other states will follow the benchmark," he said.
source: The times of India
Raghuram, while talking on the sidelines of an event 'Gujarat Breast Meet-2016' here on Saturday , said that there is a need to train health workers to diagnose breast cancer."There is a social taboo about the cancer, and lack of awareness in women. Shockingly , the number of cervical cancer cases are catching up with that of breast cancer," he said.
"As the age of marriage has been raised, the gap between having two children has also increased and there is also a tendency to avoid breastfeeding These could have raised the occurrence of breast cancer among women in rural India," he said.
Raghuram has roped in health workers to screen women in rural areas. These health workers have travelled across 3,700 villages in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and saved thousands of women from falling prey to breast cancer.
Raghuram said that he has conducted this awareness programme in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, and wants the programme to be replicated in other Indian states, too. He said that as the country is highly populated, use of mammography to diagnose breast cancer is not possible. Therefore, health workers should be trained to detect the disease in early stages, he added.
"I have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding this issue as we wanted to replicate this screening programme in other states. At present, we want to implement it in Karnataka and Gujarat. If this succeeds, then other states will follow the benchmark," he said.
source: The times of India
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