Cancer is a rampant public health problem globally. There is an interesting emerging global trend in Cancer incidences  and death rates. While the rates are decreasing in the United States and many other western countries, they are increasing in less developed and economically transitioning countries[1]. Taking in perspective US and India, this trend is apparent from recent National cancer projections.

A recent report by American Cancer Society (ACS) published on January 17th 2013, revealed that overall cancer deaths in US have declined by 20% since their peak in 1991. The report notes that cancer deaths rates have fallen from 1991 (their peak) to 2009 (the most recent figures available), decreasing from 215.1 to 173.1 per 100,000 [2].

However looking at the current trends in India, it has been projected that the total cancer cases are likely to go up from 979,786 cases in the year 2010 to 1,148,757 cases in the year 2020 [3].
The latest available figure of cancer death rate is from national representative study conducted by Tata Memorial Hospital in 2001—03 [4]. The Age-standardised cancer mortality rates per 100 000 were: Rural- M=95·6  F=96·6 and Urban- M=102·4 F=91·2.

Taking cancer seriously and taking public health measures for prevention and early detection has started paying dividends for US. While in India we are walking the same path already travelled by the developed nations;  by failing to stop the adoption of unhealthy western lifestyles such as smoking and physical inactivity and consumption of calorie-dense food.  Measures in the form of awareness creation, prevention and early detection are required to cut this trend.

[1]  Ahmedin Jemal, Melissa M. Center, Carol DeSantis and Elizabeth M. Ward : Global Patterns of Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates and Trends
[2] Rebecca Siegel MPH; Deepa Naishadham MA, MS; Ahmedin Jemal DVM, PhD : Cancer Statistics 2013 (CA: A cancer journal for clinicians)
[3] Ramnath Takiar,Deenu Nadayil,A Nandakumar : Projections of Number of Cancer Cases in India (2010-2020) by Cancer Groups
[4] Rajesh Dikshit, Prakash C Gupta et al. : Cancer mortality in India- a nationally representative survey