- According to WHO Southeast Asia, 67% of cancer patients in the South-East Asia die before the age of 70 years.
- In 2018, 18.1 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed globally while 9.6 million people succumbed to the disease- 70% of which occurred in low and middle income countries.
- Availability of cancer treatment services is abysmally low with only 30% of low income countries providing treatment facilities.
- 26% of low-income countries provide pathology services at public hospitals, the absence of which leads to late diagnosis and a lower chance of successful treatment.
- According to National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), India, a) one woman dies of cervical cancer every eight minutes in India, b) for every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, one woman dies of it, c) 2,500 persons die every day due to tobacco-related diseases, d) more than 3 lakh people died of tobacco use in 2018.
- Effective cancer screening is the first step towards successful treatment and necessitates cancer screening services to be made available at primary and secondary healthcare facilities in India.
