Breast Cancer and Higher Mortality Rate in Kashmir: A Socio-Cultural Explanation

Mehnaz Hassan

A vague picture of life and death arise in the mind casting a shadow of fear and sorrow while one recounts the disease called cancer. Since the last few decades, Kashmir is experiencing a rising graph of breast cancer patients. Cancer is synonymous to death in Kashmir. Breast cancer, the most frequent cancer of women in the world is the second leading site of cancer in females in Kashmir. But more tragic is that Kashmir has a higher death rate of breast cancer patients than that of rest of India. This is partly due to the lack of awareness regarding this dreaded disease and partly due to the late presentation before a practitioner. The problem gets aggravated due to lack of resources and hence termination of or delay in proper treatment. All this amounts to the lesser survival years of patients. The high mortality rate of breast cancer patients in Kashmir can be attributed to its socio-cultural structure. The deeply rooted cultural values and traditions with respect to women folk become an obstacle in timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The present paper brings to fore the socio-cultural factors leading to the lesser survival years and hence higher death rate of breast cancer patients in Kashmir valley.