National Cancer Awareness Day 2022: Every year, National Cancer Awareness Day is observed on 7th November in India. It is a day to educate and spread awareness about the risk attached to the disease. According to the World Health Organisation, cancer is considered to be the second most fatal disease. The number of cancer patients is on the rise in India too. If we take recent statistics into account, according to the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), a premier institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 13.9 lakhs new cancer patients are registered every year and 8.5 lakh cancer-related deaths are reported.
History of National Cancer Awareness Day
Former Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan first announced National Cancer Awareness Day in 2014. He began a state-level movement on cancer control which encouraged people to report about the municipal clinics for free screening.
This day is also about remembering the Nobel prize winner Scientist Madame Curie who is one of the pioneers in the fight against cancer. Her contributions also helped in nuclear energy and radiotherapy for cancer.
In India, the first and foremost step against this deadly disease started in 1975 with the launch of the National Cancer Control Program. A decade later, the plan's approach was revised to focus on early detection and prevention.
Significance of National Cancer Awareness Day
The growing number of cancer patients in India makes National Cancer Awareness Day a critical day to spread awareness about it. One of the prime reasons cancer becomes fatal is that it is detected at a later stage, reducing the chances of survival. The main objective of the day is to make people aware of the disease and its treatment.
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