I returned home from an 11 day stay in India on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day in the United States). I learned so much! First of all, India has an edge on use of technology! There were over 5,000 people who attended the Indian Cancer Congress 2013 in New Delhi. The WiFi coverage was outstanding in spite of the numbers of people using it. The Kempinski hotel had many backup generators to compensate for frequent electrical brownouts. I always had a WiFi connection.
The traffic was unbelievable. The car drivers were amazing in their ability to negotiate travel with so many types of vehicles on the road. I certainly would never be able to drive anywhere in India!
The poverty in New Delhi was tragic. There were so many people living in downtown area on the street and in tents on the side of the road. There was a stark difference between New Delhi and Kochi. Although the homeless probably exists, I did not see any evidence of the homeless problem in Kochi.
There is much opportunity for India to leverage the use of prevention strategies to improve their health. There are no widespread screening mammogram programs available. Many of the areas in India do not have mammogram technology nor physicians who are qualified to read the results. Routine dental care is not available to the mass population. The top three types of cancer are head and neck, breast, and cervical.
Head and neck is due to tobacco use. In addition to the types of tobacco used in the United States, many Indians use ground betel nut as their chewing tobacco. Betel nut is very carcinogenic! To compound things, when routine dental care is not used, the head and neck cancers are discovered in the advanced stages.
Breast cancers are commonly no identified until they are stage 3 or 4. To many, the word "cancer" means death because of the late diagnosis. Breast conservation surgery is not available in many areas of India because radiation therapy is not available.
Cervical cancer screening is not readily available. As a result, the cancer is not identified when it can be cured.
The traffic was unbelievable. The car drivers were amazing in their ability to negotiate travel with so many types of vehicles on the road. I certainly would never be able to drive anywhere in India!
The poverty in New Delhi was tragic. There were so many people living in downtown area on the street and in tents on the side of the road. There was a stark difference between New Delhi and Kochi. Although the homeless probably exists, I did not see any evidence of the homeless problem in Kochi.
There is much opportunity for India to leverage the use of prevention strategies to improve their health. There are no widespread screening mammogram programs available. Many of the areas in India do not have mammogram technology nor physicians who are qualified to read the results. Routine dental care is not available to the mass population. The top three types of cancer are head and neck, breast, and cervical.
Head and neck is due to tobacco use. In addition to the types of tobacco used in the United States, many Indians use ground betel nut as their chewing tobacco. Betel nut is very carcinogenic! To compound things, when routine dental care is not used, the head and neck cancers are discovered in the advanced stages.
Breast cancers are commonly no identified until they are stage 3 or 4. To many, the word "cancer" means death because of the late diagnosis. Breast conservation surgery is not available in many areas of India because radiation therapy is not available.
Cervical cancer screening is not readily available. As a result, the cancer is not identified when it can be cured.
