FAQs

1. What is Prevention?

Prevention of cancer means removing the cause of cancer so that the risk of illness is reduced. This, generally, involves making healthy lifestyle choices. The most common and talked about lifestyle change is quitting smoking tobacco. Prevention can be a very significant way in which the impact of cancer on our society can be reduced.

Aside from smoking, there are other likely causes of cancer. A good diet high in fiber and antioxidants and low in fat is a way in which the risk of cancer can be reduced. Furthermore, regular exercise also promotes a healthy lifestyle.

2. What is Screening and why is it important?

Screening means doing a test on people who have no symptoms. It may be that a test can or should be done on all individuals or only on those individuals who have an increased risk for developing a particular type of cancer. For example, a mammogram should be done routinely on all women above the age of 40.

Screening is important as it could decrease the number of cases of cancer or cancer related deaths. Through regular screening, cancer, if present, can be detected at an early stage. As a rule, cancers detected early have high survival rates and may not require aggressive therapies. In some cases, certain lumps have been found to be at a pre-cancerous stage and have been successfully treated.