Abstract

Cancer is emerging as a major public health concern in India with the ongoing demographic and epidemiological transition. This paper uses a nationally representative household survey to look at the general prevalence and economic burden of cancer in India. The average out of pocket spending on inpatient care in private facilities is about three-times that of public facilities. These efforts should specialize in the ten cancers contributing the very best DALYs in India, including cancers of the stomach, lung, pharynx aside from nasopharynx, colon and rectum, leukemia, oesophageal, and brain, and Systema nervosum, additionally to breast, lip and oral cavity, and cervical cancer, which are currently the main target of screening and early detection programs. India's current burden of 10,00,000 incident cancers is that the results of an epidemiologic transition, improved cancer diagnostics, and improved cancer data capture. The increasing incidence of cancer in India with wide interstate variations offers useful insights and important lessons for developing countries in managing their increasing cancer burdens. Overall, the cancer epidemiology literature from India is thinly dispersed. More studies with robust designs representing all parts of the country are currently needed.