Cancer and Northeast

 It is bad news that the occurrence of cancer has been on the rise in the North-eastern region in recent times. This has unfortunately happened despite a lot of funds being spent on generating awareness and also pumping in a lot of funds for improving the healthcare mechanism in the region. As has been reported on the front page of the Sunday edition of this newspaper, the trend is so alarming that the number of new cases of cancer in the region is likely to increase to over 57,000 by 2025, against the present figure of a little over 53,000 (counted in 2022). The report, quoting the Indian Council of Medical Research,(ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR) also said that while cancer prevalence has been high in all the states of the region, Assam continues to top the list in terms of absolute figures. According to the ICMR-NCDIR report, Assam had registered as many as 39,787 cancer cases during 2022, followed by Meghalaya (3,025), Tripura (2,715), Mizoram (1,985), Manipur (2,097), Nagaland (1,854) and Arunachal Pradesh (1,087) Simultaneously, the number of deaths caused by cancer has also remained high across the region. As reported, Assam recorded the deaths of 23,974 cancer patients during 2022. The death figures in the other states are also alarming. It is common knowledge that excessive consumption of tobacco, whether by chewing or smoking, has remained the most important reason behind the increased incidence of cancer in the Northeast. Experts have also identified the consumption of smoked meat as another factor behind the increasing incidence of cancer in the region. While smoked meat is said to be a cause of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, chewing and smoking tobacco are the primary factors responsible.for head and neck cancers. Given this reality, the first step could be a campaign to change people’s food habits, including saying No to all kinds of tobacco products as well as smoked meat.