The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Health camps show high incidence of pre-cancerous stages among rural women

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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Health camps show high incidence of pre-cancerous stages among rural women

Ramya Kannan

More important part is to create awareness that will help change lifestyle

CHENNAI: Tracking lifestyle diseases across the State, public health authorities hitherto engaged in battling challenges posed by infectious diseases find themselves confronting a significant number of cancers or pre-cancerous conditions among the rural population.

The ‘Varummun Kappom’ camps have showed a high incidence of pre-cancerous stages — erosion of cervix, breast lumps and other suspected malignancies among women. “The prevalence seems to be higher in women, but that could also be because more women come to the camps that are held during the day,” says P. Padmanabhan, director of Public Health.

The number of cases of cervix erosion in women is increasing, say doctors who regularly conduct camps in villages. In every camp, there are a substantial number of women testing positive for cancer cervix, they add. Ovarian tumours, malignancies of the reproductive tract and other suspected malignancies have been recorded in 64 lakh persons who have attended the camps. A little more than half the total number of people tested are women.

A green curtain is drawn across the classroom temporarily converted into a check-up room for women. Behind the green curtain, a doctor examining a 35-year-old woman finds the Visual Inspection Acetic acid test turning positive. She recommends that the patient needs more care and attention and invites her to come to the PHC on the next OP day.

“We are very careful about informing the women about their condition. We do not want to frighten them off saying it is cancer. We need to bring them to the PHCs for treatment, that is more important,” K. Vanaja, deputy director of health services, says. Women are also taught about signs to watch out for, breast self-examination techniques and are asked to report to the PHCs if they detect any early symptoms during the camps.

Detecting these diseases at the early stage itself is a huge effort in addressing lifestyle-related ailments, Dr. Padmanabhan says. With lifestyles having changed in rural areas, packaged and preserved foods entering villages, cancer-causing behaviour has also increased in rural areas, he adds. In every case, the patient is referred to a PHC and for the first follow up visit the PHC sends a vehicle to pick up everyone who requires further investigation or treatment. But he acknowledges that the more important part is to spread awareness that will help change lifestyle and prove as an effective preventive health care measure. “Even the camps are only picking up early cases. What we need to do is to prevent people from getting these diseases,” he adds.

The directorate also intends to start Information Education Communication activities across the State to urge people to reform their sedentary lifestyles. Currently, such programmes are active in only two districts in Tamil Nadu — Sivaganga and Virudhunagar. Another aggressive lifestyle modification campaign will be started in Kancheepuram district as part of the National Non Communicable diseases project. The school health programme already encompasses some of these concepts, Dr. Padmanabhan adds.

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has also promised to consider giving women preventive HPV vaccines. Two strains of the Human Papilloma Virus are known to cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers and it is hoped that a vaccine will provide protective cover to many women who might other wise develop cancers.

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