Hi all,

I am Avinash and i am from Mumbai, India.
Facts about Oral Cancer in India
1.India has one of the highest incidence of Oral cancer in the world. The high incidence of oral cancer and oral pre-cancerous lesions in India has long been linked with the habit of betel quid chewing incorporating tobacco.

2.Oral cancer ranks number one among men and number three among women in India. Oral cancer constitutes 12% of all cancers in men and 8% of all cancers among women.

3.Oral cancer is a major health problem in India. In India it is estimated that among the 400 million individuals aged 15 years and over 47% use tobacco in one form or the other, there are many interesting forms of tobacco use in India Annual incidence rate is estimated to be 64,460. However total number of cases at any given will be 2.5 to 3 times higher than this number

4.It is unfortunate that so far no proper epidemiological data on this disease is available in India. Information currently available is mostly on the basis of crude incidence rate available from three metropolitan cities(probably Mumbai Delhi kolcutta) covered under National cancer registry project.


The awareness about oral cancer is very low here mainly because people here dont tend to listen unless its thier own problem .
Also because most of India is rural they lack proper education, hospitals and also because they frankly cant even afford proper hospitalisation.

When my father got this dreadful desease even i paniced cause of lack of information , but as i went thru net i got alot of information specailly through this forum.
Ironically though i didnot find any forums or groups from india for OC. being the highest number of OC patients here , this was ironic.

So, i would like to spread the message here in India, create awareness ... also help people who need help starting from basic information as lack of information causes panic.

So i would like to get suggestions as to how do i start.
Any suggestions or coments are welcome.


Finaly,
Hats off to Brian Hill ur efforts and ur initiatives for OC is truely inspiring.
Hats off to people of this forum who are so helpful to all who need help.