Abreast of breast cancer

At the 'Expanding Breast Cancer Care for Indian Women' (second edition) by THE WEEK, experts talked about healthy life practices to beat the disease

- REYA MEHROTRA

There was a time when cancer was a rare disease. Today, it looms large and stares back at us. According to Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, 37.2 per cent women died of breast cancer in India in 2020, as compared with 34 per cent in Asia, while the global average that year was 30 per cent. Singh-who was the guest of honour at THE WEEK'S 'Expanding Breast Cancer Care for Indian Women' (second edition)said the high mortality rates with breast cancer in India could be related to late diagnosis, which is primarily due to lack of proper awareness and the absence of screening for the at-risk population.

A diabetologist by profession, Singh also stressed on the importance of early detection to control type 2 diabetes, many lifestyle disorders, and breast cancer. While praising THE WEEK Connect's breast cancer initiative and the magazine's Health supplement, and congratulating Resident Editor R. Prasannan on the effort, the minister underlined that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs, under the [Union] ministry of science and technology, are leading India's cancer research efforts. He said the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow is leading the way in developing high-value generic drugs through non-infringing and cost-effective synthetic route, designing and synthesising of new chemical entities against clinically validated cancer drug targets, preclinical evaluation of potent anti-cancer entities, among other activities.