India Acts Against Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the biggest cancer killer among women in India. One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 4 minutes, and one woman dies every 13 minutes because of breast cancer in India. Although the incidence of breast cancer in India is lower than that in Western countries, the mortality rates are disproportionately higher. Only 60% of women who are treated for breast cancer, survive for at least five years post-treatment in India as compared to 89% in the US.

Cancer has traditionally been seen as a western disease as more cases are reported in cities than in the interiors. The incidence of breast cancer is higher in cities than in villages. But alarmingly most cases from rural areas are diagnosed only after breast cancer has transformed to metastatic tumours. The Mortality‐to‐incidence ratio was found to be as high as 66 in rural registries compared to 8 in urban registries.

Lack of awareness about breast cancer and late diagnosis, could lead to a breast cancer epidemic in the coming years as the burden of cancer is expected to balloon exponentially in the coming years. Women are the glue that keeps our families together. Behind every happy family is a healthy woman. It is the responsibility of families, friends and the entire nation to prioritise the health of women. If we fail here, the nation will suffer a huge cost of disease burden and productivity loss which a fast-growing country can ill afford.

To bring the focus on this sword hanging on the heads of 50% of our population, and create massive awareness around the critical issues and advance accessible infrastructure to treat breast cancer in India, the Integrated Health and Wellbeing (IHW) Council; a not for profit health & wellbeing institution aligned with UN holistic approach to Sustainable Development Goals and one of the leading pharmaceuticals, Novartis India are launched a month-long Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign with the theme: Awareness to Action in October 2020.

Once again the 2nd edition of Breast Cancer Action Month 2021 would bring together the government authority, leading medical experts, lawmakers, social leaders, influencers and breast cancer survivors to share their insights on the critical issues, technology, innovative solutions and various ideas to create awareness among people about the breast cancer problem, understand the action that has to be taken by family members and overcome social stigma and apprehensions to access care in a timely fashion.