One in every four men in Aizawl facing cancer threat

Aizawl, Oct 3 (IANS) Men in Mizoram's capital Aizawl have much higher probability of developing cancer than their counterparts in any other part of the country, an official said here on Monday.

According to the Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR), the probability of contracting any type of cancer in a lifetime (up to 74 years of age) is one in four males in Aizawl against one in seven to eight men in important cities in India.

"Probability of contracting cancer among females in Aizawl is one in five persons, whereas it is one in eight in Mumbai, one in seven in Delhi," Eric Zomawia, Mizoram nodal officer of cancer and principal investigator for PBCR, told reporters.

As Mizoram tops all other states in India in tobacco consumption, the PBCR found that the major source of cancer in this north-eastern state is tobacco use.

Zomawia, quoting the PBCR, said cancer killed on an average 725 persons every year in Mizoram, which has a population of around 11 lakh.

There were 4,656 new cases of cancer, including 2,089 among females, reported between 2012 and 2014, confirming that, on an average, there were 1,552 new cancer cases per year in the state, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.

According to Aizawl PBCR, as many as 2,176 people died of various types of cancers in three years till 2014. Of the 2,176 cancer victims in three years (2012-2014), 830 were females and 1,346 males.

There are 29 PBCRs in the country with 11 of them in the northeast region, comprising eight states.