Project WE CAN

India is the capital of oral cancer and it has taken an epidemic form. Of 7-8 lakh registered cancer cases every year, 40% are of oral cancer. Annually 130,000 people succumb to oral cancer in India. 60 to 80 % present in advanced stage. 14 people, mostly young, die of oral cancer every hour. And the problem is not declining in-spite of tobacco and gutkha ban.

Every day, more than 55,000 children in India below the age group of 15 years are estimated to try tobacco for the first time. Five million Indian children are said to be addicted to tobacco. One third of them are likely to die a painful death due to this addiction.
Routine screening for premalignant lesions and working towards tobacco de-addiction leads to early diagnosis of oral cancer. To do our bit in the bit, MCF started Project WE CAN in 2012 13.

Activities under WE CAN:

1. Training sessions: Awareness and sensitization for 1000 general practitioners of Pune district, urban and rural.
2. Awareness sessions and oral cancer screenings for 500 women in slum area
3. Awareness sessions and oral cancer screenings for 500 workers in MIDC and construction sites.

We have been fortunate to have Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai as our educational partners in the initiative. Till date we have trained 600 doctors in oral cancer screening and tobacco de-addiction.