Your presentation is excellent. We, as human beings, have to change our eating and thinking habits to fight such fatal diseases. To add to your presentation, I came across a very good article (courtesy of SiliconIndia).
Indians Lose Millions of Productive Years to Cancer
Cancer has affected many lives in India and around the world. Some cases are benign and others fatal, but when detected, it demands attention and time. The time cancer consumes has been estimated to be predominantly during an individual's most productive years. An elaborate study on the worldwide impact of cancer found that the number of healthy years lost by cancer patients just in 2008 was 1.87 crore years in India.
Around the world, about 170 million healthy years of individuals were consumed by cancer. Out of the 170 million years lost, 25 percent was recorded in China, and India shares 11 percent of this load. The two countries recorded 67 percent of the crisis caused by cancer in Asia.
The report calculated the productive years lost to cancer by estimating the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), which are the average number of years a person lives with the disability and the number of years lost due to premature demise, as published in the British Journal, 'The Lancet'.
DALYs give more attention to the number of deaths that occur at an early age, which people spend on building careers, raising a family, and supporting family members. Here are some remarkable facts found by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.
The Indian women are on the list with more health loss and productive years than men. Men lost 1,606 DALYs, whereas women lost 1,900 DALYs per lakh population. They are most affected by breast cancer with 362 DALYs and cervical cancer with 466 DALYs, which steals the highest number of productive years.
In men, lung cancer has 187 DALYs for every lakh of population, oral cavity cancer is next with 163 DALYs, followed by oesophagus with 123 DALYs, stomach with 102 DALYs, and leukemia shows 105 DALYs. The DALYs were derived by calculating the years of life lost (YLLs) along with the years lived with disability (YLDs) from 27 sites of cancer in 12 world regions with a total of 184 countries. The study shows that three types of cancer—myeloma, melanoma, and thyroid—take more healthy years of women's lives than men's in India.
As per Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, which recently published its cancer findings in The Lancet, 70 percent of cancer deaths happen between the age group of 30-69, which is considered the most productive years. An estimate of 5.6 lakh died of cancer in 2010 in India.
"Our study represents an important first step towards establishing an evidence base for fatal and non-fatal cancer-related outcomes that is urgently needed to set priorities in cancer control," said IARC lead author Dr. Isabelle Soerjomataram, as reported by Kounteya Sinha for TNN.
As accounted by IARC, radiations from cellphones could cause cancer, which led WHO to list it in the carcinogenic category. The cancers caused by infection, which contributed to the entire DALYs, were high in Eastern Asia with 27 percent and in Sub-Saharan Africa with 25 percent in the overall cancer scene.
Death by cancer was estimated to be 7.6 million in 2008 globally. With increased awareness and technological advances in cancer research and cure, along with cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment have brought the mortality rate down in certain developed countries. With advancements in medical research, life expectancy has increased, making cancer a global burden. There are speculations that the number of cancer cases will increase to 21.4 million in 2030, as per the report.
The fight against cancer is a long road to walk. Whether there can be a complete cure for it or not is hard to say. However, the concern that manifests is that with cancer, the deterioration in health and morale is expected, but it's important to be practical in dealing with it. Measures are considered to make cancer easier to accept and live with. Motivation is the key, and as said by Olivia Newton-John, "My cancer scare changed my life. I'm grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life." It's important to have a positive view in life to be able to deal with the days spent in the company of cancer.
Regards