Diagnosis, prognosis, and limitations of treatment options are vital for cancer patients
In the last two decades, massive changes have taken place in terms of cancer diagnosis, prognosis, limitations of treatment options, and then treatment from this deadly disease. Innumerable high-quality works and research related to all kinds of cancers have happened with an aim to bring about transformation in the life of cancer patients and their family members. These researches have improved prompt disease management and quality of life for cancer patients through a precise early diagnosis and prognosis.
When it comes to the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancers, awareness has increased a lot in the last few decades, but present awareness is not enough, as the incidence of cancer is increasing rapidly in India. Therefore, it is important to step up cancer literacy, awareness, and knowledge among people in general.
It is equally important to note here that the biggest reason of the loss of life and earnings from cancers, is the late diagnosis, which makes the disease less treatable, reduces a patient’s chances of survival, and potentially increases the cost of effective treatments.
For example, breast cancer is rapidly rising among women in urban areas and it is the most common cancer in India. In breast cancer, early detection is essential for its management and treatment. However, due to ignorance, fear and social stigma many women end up having developed stage III or IV cancer, which requires surgery and extensive treatment. Similarly, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the country, though it is preventable and can be detected in the pre-cancerous phase and cured. Likewise, oral and lung cancers are highest among men and women in urban as well as rural populations, and both can be prevented to a large extent. Clearly, making people aware is of great importance.
Though cancer research is going on in almost all parts of the globe, in a country like India, it is still not adequate. Research involves identifying causes and developing strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer-related research ranges from epidemiology, and molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and compare applications of the various cancer treatments, which include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and combined treatment modalities such as chemo-radiotherapy.
The government does have certain schemes for cancer patients, as in the majority of the cases cancer strikes people coming from poor economic strata of society, because of the lack of awareness. These government schemes may come to their rescue, but the majority of the patients and family members are not aware of how they can approach and benefit from government schemes. Moreover, these schemes only cater to a particular segment, which makes them irrelevant to a large section of the people.
In addition, the majority of the patients don’t have the required health insurance, it happens because of two reasons- first lack of awareness and second insurance schemes are very costly for the common people. Even medicines are also very costly to bear for the common mass. People in villages still consider cancer a taboo and they try to conceal it. Though information technology has raised awareness about this disease, people still need to know a lot.
The best part of this process is that almost 80% of cancers are preventable, hence, we need to work a lot on prevention. For this, we need to scale up the proper treatment of cancers. Here, public and private stakeholders need to work in unison. We hope that this campaign will lead to the early detection of cancer, which is important in its management and treatment. We are striving hard, please come and join us.
Now, cancer patients and their family members wouldn’t have to run from pillar to post in search of relevant information and guidance, as ‘Uhapo’ provides them with all the required knowledge. Moreover, Uhapo and CRSF also present the ‘Cancer Conclave’ on 4th February, 2023. To attend the conclave, please register at – https://uhapo.co.in/CancerConclave, where you can find experts’ advice, awareness, and clarity related to different domains and kinds of cancers.