The magnitude of cancer cervix in India.

The Indian Council of Medical Research initiated a network of cancer registries under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) in 1981 and data collection commenced in these registries from January 1982. The results on incidence rates provided by the Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCRs) have shown the variation in patterns of cancer in general and that of cancer cervix in particular. Cancer of the cervix has been the most important cancer in women in India, over past two decades. All the urban Population Based Cancer Registries at Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai have shown a statistically significant decrease in incidence rates of this site of cancer. Since over 70 per cent of the Indian population resides in the rural areas, cancer cervix still constitutes the number one cancer in either sex. Based on the data of the PBCRs, the estimated number of new cancers during 2007 in India was 90.708. The relative five year survival reported some time earlier averaged 48.7 per cent.