Aruna Ummat was invited to participate in the three- day World Cancer Congress (WCC) in Geneva from 17-19 Sept. 2024. WCC is an International conference organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) every two years and aims to strengthen the global fight against cancer.
As a delegate of the Indian Cancer Society Delhi (ICS), Aruna presented a paper on the topic ‘Harnessing the potential of educators to equip the youth with cancer-related knowledge’.
Aruna says, “The context of the topic was that ICS has been conducting a training program called the Faculty Development Program (FDP) for the last three years to train university teachers in India in cancer fundamentals. FDP runs under the UGC scheme as per the New Education Policy 2020. The teachers, in turn, mentor some of their students in an internship program that sensitizes the youth to make informed lifestyle choices. The young students carry this program forward to make it a community outreach program, thus producing a ripple effect in cancer awareness.”
Cancer cases as well as mortality are increasing rapidly among the Indian population, primarily because of low awareness and late detection. A very low % of patients are getting cured because of late detection of cancer. Cancer is largely a lifestyle disease.
70% of cancers can be prevented by controlling their risk factors if people are aware of the harms of their bad lifestyle choices. No doubt the risks are both modifiable and non-modifiable.
Under modifiable, a person’s cancer risk can be reduced with healthy choices like avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption, eating food rich in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, and getting vaccinated for certain dangerous viruses like the Human Papilloma virus and Hepatitis B virus. Under non modifiable, risks of environmental pollution, Ionizing and UV radiation, workplace hazards, and our increased age may not be under our direct control.
Due to a lack of awareness, symptoms of cancer are often missed or misunderstood. Awareness empowers people with the knowledge to recognize early signs of cancer and take proactive steps toward timely medical intervention. It could be useful if we knew some of the common symptoms of this dreadful disease.
The acronym CAUTION helps us remember the early signs:
• C Change in bowel movement
• A A sore that does not heal
• U Unusual bleeding from any orifice of the body, unusual weight loss
• T Thickening of skin or lump
• I Indigestion
• O Obvious change in mole or wart
• N Nagging cough
We get our vehicles serviced every 4-6 months, but our body’s machinery is much more complicated than that of a vehicle, so why not get it screened? It is important for us to know that cancer is completely curable if detected early; thus, regular screening is necessary.
So the carry-home message is: Conquest of Cancer by Choice, not Chance.
