Cancer and Incarcerated Prisoners: Tobacco Use and Awareness
- 1. Junior Resident, King George’s Medical University, India
CITATION
Tomar A, Jain HK (2024) Cancer and Incarcerated Prisoners: Tobacco Use and Awareness. Ann Otolaryngol Rhinol 11(4): 1342.
INTRODUCTION
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most frequently encountered malignant tumours in the oral cavity, ranks in incidence as the 12th most common cancer in the world, besides being one of the major health problems in countries like India and Pakistan [1]. Tobacco, one of the most common aetiological factors, is used in different forms across the country leading to wide variation of the premalignant lesions that exists with the conversion to premalignant lesions [2].
National Cancer Registry programme, has been conducted in India for the year2012-2020, in collaboration with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and NCDIR (National centre for disease informatics and research), Bengaluru. This study was conducted across 58 hospital-based registries in different hospitals across the country and 28 population-based registries in different states and districts and defined the incidence and prevalence of cancer amongst the population for the formulation of healthcare policies [3]. This registry when looked into and observed thoroughly, did not inculcated any data on inmates in various prisons across different parts of the country, let it be kids or adults dwelling in the slum areas of the country.
But unfortunately, tobacco consumption among prison dwellers is high, as in a study reported by Dahiya et al. [4], reported the use of smoked tobacco was 65% in prisoners and the prevalence of tobacco associated oral cancers was 13%. Thereby, the knowledge for the intervention of tobacco cessation programmes is the need in order to reduce not only the incidence, but also to prevent the incessant use of tobacco. According to a recent press release by The Times of India on 3rd April 2023, screened for one the most commonly occurring cancers in females viz, oral cervical and breast cancers. This was done in collaboration with VCCF (Vishwanath Cancer Care Foundation) and CIMS (Carrer Institute of Medical Sciences). The drawbacks of such initiatives taken are lack of appropriate for further formulation of health policies for the inmates for treating and prevention of cancers, and also the lack of awareness of the pros and cons associated with tobacco use in these screening procedures. A paucity of data suggests that not only the respective state governments, but also the central government is not paying this matter as priority or considering this even as a matter of concern, to provide inmates a healthy soul. By the time they are released from their punishment the consumption of tobacco even increases or decreases has not been studied till date. This adds more to the less heterogeneity reported while producing the statistics on cancer and releasing associated health policies [5].
The National Human Resources Commission (NHRC) recommends regular screenings for jail inmates as per their D.O. NO. 4/7/2010-PRP&P and WHO has recommended all individuals to be screened at the time of arrival (including for signs of mental health) along with a major health assessment within the first week. Additionally, emphasis is being laid on capturing longitudinal data, as these are essential to understanding the continuity of care along with the assessment of this data on a regular basis to update and formulate the policies to bring out a better liveable environment in the prisons, who can equally then contribute to be the better citizens of the country.
In conclusion, all this before written protocols and policies can be brought forefront with the unsolicited help of organizations, oncologists, public health workers as well as the Government of the country.
REFERENCES
3. NCRP - Three- Year Report of Population Based Cancer Registries 2009 -2011, National Cancer Registry Programme (Indian Council of Medical Research), Bangalore, 2013.
