Coming soon
Guest lecture on cancer awareness
Report -Breast Cancer Awareness Month
On the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness month (1st -31st October) the Department of Home Science has organized Health Talk on “Cancer Awareness” by Cancer Specialist Dr Deepak Gupta, Medical Oncologist, HCG Hospital, Jaipur and Dr Nitin Khunteta, Surgical Oncologist, HCG Hospital, Jaipur on 23rd October 2018.
Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education on symptoms and treatment. Supporters hope that greater knowledge will lead to earlier detection of breast cancer, which is associated with higher long-term survival rates, and that money raised for breast cancer will produce a reliable, permanent cure.
Dr Deepak Gupta started his lecture with general introduction of cancer. He has focussed on etiology of cancer and it’s treatment and prevention. He has shared the vital statistics related to mortality and morbidity of cancer of different organs. Dr Gupta has also enlightened our knowledge on the types of cancers common among males and females. He said that the prevalence of breast cancer is increasing rapidly in India among females and among males it’s the cancer of prostate & stomach is rapidly increasing. Incidence of Skin cancer is also increasing at a rapid pace. He has also talked about the treatments available in India and abroad to treat the deadly disease.
Dr Nitin Khunteta said that the goal of breast cancer awareness campaigns is to raise the public's "brand awareness" for breast cancer, its detection, its treatment, and the need for a reliable, permanent cure. Increased awareness has increased the number of women receiving mammograms, the number of breast cancers detected, and the number of women receiving biopsies. Overall, as a result of awareness, breast cancers are being detected at an earlier, more treatable stage. Awareness efforts have successfully utilized marketing approaches to reduce the stigma associated with the disease. Awareness has also led to increased anxiety for women. Early detection efforts result in overdiagnosis of precancerous and cancerous tumors that would never risk the woman's life (about one-third of breast cancers diagnosed through screening programs), and result in her being subjected to invasive and sometimes dangerous radiological and surgical procedures. An emphasis on educating women about lifestyle changes that may have a small impact on preventing breast cancer often makes women feel guilty if they do develop breast cancer. Some women decide that their own cancer resulted from poor diet, lack of exercise, or other modifiable lifestyle factor, even though most cases of breast cancer are due to non-controllable factors, like genetics or naturally occurring background radiation. Adopting such a belief may increase their sense of being in control of their fate. Increased awareness inadvertently increases victim blaming. Women who resist screening mammography or breast self-exams are subjected to social pressure, scare tactics, guilt, and threats from some physicians to terminate the relationship with the patient . Similarly, the emphasis on early detection results in many women wrongly blaming themselves if their cancer is not detected at an early stage.
Overall both the lectures were fruitful ad have enriched the existing knowledge of the students.