Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 5: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have both witnessed a consistent rise in cancer cases over the past decade, with the latest Government data confirming a continued upward trend through 2024.
Figures presented in the Lok Sabha today by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare show that J&K’s cancer burden, which stood at 14,864 cases in 2015, has risen in 2024 despite a brief dip in the intervening years.
Ladakh, too, has seen gradual increases, from 286 estimated cases in 2020 to 318 in 2024.
According to data compiled by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), J&K reported 15,652 cases in 2016, 16,480 in 2017 and 17,351 in 2018, before the estimated incidence dropped to 12,396 in 2019.
The numbers then climbed steadily again: 12,726 in 2020, 13,060 in 2021, 13,395 in 2022, 13,744 in 2023 and 14,112 in 2024.
Ladakh’s year-wise figures, available from 2020 onwards, also point to a gradual rise-286 in 2020, 294 in 2021, 302 in 2022, 309 in 2023 and 318 in 2024.
The Centre said that the increase in cancer cases across India is driven by a combination of better diagnostic access, higher life expectancy, improved health-seeking behaviour and lifestyle-related risk factors.
It stated that the ICMR has noted that greater use of advanced diagnostic tools has resulted in more cancers being detected than in the past.
Meanwhile, rising tobacco and alcohol use, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets and increased consumption of salt, sugar and saturated fats, Centre said, have played a significant role in the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases, including cancer.
Nationally, estimated cancer cases rose from 13.9 lakh in 2020 to 15.33 lakh in 2024.
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