Cancer is posing new challenges to researchers and doctors trying to prevent or effectively manage it. While IIT Madras on Monday launched a first-of-its-kind cancer genome database to help research in India, new data published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on World Cancer Day—February 4—revealed that lung cancer is on the rise among men and women who never smoked, pointing to the increasing role of air pollution.
The National Cancer Registry indicates that one in nine Indians is likely to develop cancer in their lifetime. The Indian Council of Medical Research has pointed to the rising number of people living with cancer—at least 14,61,427 at last count—while incidence of the disease has been increasing by 12.8 percent every year since 2022. An untold number of patients, especially in the rural areas, go without being screened, and therefore, without treatment.
Due to a glaring disparity in the distribution of quality cancer centres—largely in favour of cities—there is a large care gap between parts of the country. The disease causes loss in productivity and premature mortality in the absence of proper care, or treatment commencing at the later stages. Government hospitals, where affordable treatment is available, often lack the infrastructure to handle a large number of cancer patients, forcing long waiting periods. This pushes more patients to the expensive private hospitals, adding up to a massive economic burden.
The central and the state governments need to fight this scourge as one. Medical research institutions in the country focusing on cancer need to establish an effective network to tap into the latest global developments. For instance, researchers in the University of California in San Francisco have recently found that in 70 percent of cancers, it is one cell protein named RBM42 that enhances another named MYC to trigger uncontrolled cancerous growths. They have suggested developing drugs targeting RBM42 to suppress the cancer-promoting actions of MYC.
Fighting cancer needs a consolidated front involving medical researchers and scientists, radiologists, oncologists and care experts to make screening, monitoring and treatment accessible to all those who need it. For that to happen, the biggest requirement is to have a strong political will to take on this dreaded disease in a united manner.