The Budget for 2025-2026 has introduced measures to combat cancer in India, which remains one of the most affected countries in terms of cases and deaths. The proposals include the establishment of day care cancer centres in all district hospitals within three years and a full exemption of cancer treatment drugs from basic customs duty.
A recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) found that three out of five Indians diagnosed with cancer in 2022 succumbed to the disease.
Data from the Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) 2022 indicate that India ranked third globally in absolute cancer incidence, following China and the United States, according to a study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia.
India recorded 889,742 cancer-related deaths in 2022, second only to China’s 2.32 million fatalities. The country’s mortality-to-incidence ratio stood at 64.47 per cent, the highest among the 10 nations with the most cancer cases.
Indonesia, China, and Russia followed with ratios of 58.66 per cent, 50.57 per cent, and 47.34 per cent, respectively. The United States, despite having a higher number of cancer cases, recorded a lower mortality-to-incidence ratio of 23.81 per cent.
Breast cancer was the most prevalent form among Indian females, accounting for 31.1 per cent of new cases, followed by cervical cancer at 19.6 per cent and ovarian cancer at 7 per cent.
Breast and cervical cancers were also the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among females, at 24 per cent and 20.6 per cent, respectively. Among males, oral cancer was the most frequently diagnosed, comprising 24.3 per cent of cases, and was also the leading cause of cancer-related mortality at 21.6 per cent.
Gender-based data revealed that in 2022, the female crude incidence rate (CIR) in the reproductive age group was 60.08 per 100,000 individuals, higher than the male CIR of 37.25 in the same category. Among those aged 70 and above, the male CIR reached 640.08, exceeding the geriatric female CIR of 456.02.
The crude mortality rate (CMR) for females in the reproductive age group stood at 27.65, higher than the male CMR of 20.87, but in all other age groups, male mortality rates surpassed those of females.
The study published in The Lancet projected a 2 per cent annual increase in cancer-related deaths in India over the next two decades as the population shifts from the reproductive age group (15 to 49 years) to middle-aged (50 to 69 years) and geriatric (above 70 years) categories.
Also Read: Patel To Hussian To Nowhere: How Gujarat Man’s Identity Swap Ended In Deportation
