Mumbai: Amid India’s rising cancer burden, what gives the country its strongest chance to bend the curve is a vigilant preventive strategy one that can act as a shield, preventing patients from slipping into the vicious spiral of late-stage interventions.
While WHO commissioned studies estimate that four out of every ten cancer cases are preventable, Indian clinicians believe the impact could be far higher. In certain indications such as oral and breast cancers are the leading causes of cancer-related mortality among men and women in India prevention could potentially avert up to 70 per cent of cases.
Decoding this model, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, Director of the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, shared insights during his keynote address at the ETHealthWorld Oncology Leadership Summit titled “Tobacco and Cancer in India: Why Prevention Remains Our Biggest Failure—and Our Greatest Opportunity.”
A head-and-neck cancer specialist, Dr Chaturvedi noted that despite the rapid expansion of hospital infrastructure across the country, patient waiting lists continue to grow underscoring that infrastructure alone cannot curb the mounting burden.
On the financing front, he pointed out that most patients today have some form of public or private insurance coverage. However, unlike lifestyle diseases such as hypertension or diabetes, many cancers particularly oral, cervical, and breast are largely preventable, making early intervention and awareness all the more critical.
“The real call to action lies in advancing prevention,” Dr Chaturvedi said, cautioning against remaining locked in the relentless pursuit of treatment alone.
For India, he added, prevention finds its strongest footing precisely because the most prevalent cancers oral and breast, which are highly responsive to early detection strategies.
Moving beyond conventional awareness campaigns, Dr Chaturvedi highlighted a study he led in Dharavi, Mumbai, which demonstrated that mass breast cancer screening among women reduced mortality by 30 per cent.
Similarly, oral cancer typically takes 10 to 15 years to develop offering a wide window for prevention, prediction, or early detection.
Yet, fear of diagnosis remains a major barrier. “Despite government-run screening programmes across the country, uptake remains dismally low—at around just 3 per cent,” he noted.
To bridge this gap, Dr. Chaturvedi stressed the importance of integrating technology, including mobile-based screening tools, to detect cancer at a reversible stage, particularly in low-resource settings.
At Tata Memorial Centre, he shared, screening initiatives have shown a 93 per cent concurrence rate across 40,000 patients, with the institute now developing AI-based tools to further reduce the burden on physicians.
Lifestyle lurch
Beyond institutional interventions, Dr Chaturvedi emphasised that sustainable impact hinges on lifestyle changes—especially addressing tobacco, alcohol, and areca nut consumption—which are not only major cancer risk factors but also drivers of other non-communicable diseases.
“Oral hygiene is equally critical and plays a significant role in preventing oral cancers,” he added.
While tobacco use is declining across generations, Dr Chaturvedi warned that the sharp rise in alcohol consumption could keep the cancer burden elevated. Alcohol metabolises into acetaldehyde—a banned substance in India—which damages DNA and increases cancer risk.
Although India’s overall cancer incidence remains lower than in many Western countries, its impact is far more immediate, striking individuals in their most productive years. Shifting decisively towards prevention and early detection, Dr Chaturvedi stressed, is no longer optional it is inevitable if India is to reverse its rising cancer burden.
