COMMUNITY BASED SURVEY ON AWARENESS ABOUT THE

DISEASE CANCER IN RURAL AREA OF KANCHIPURAM

DISTRICT IN TAMIL NADU.

Kayathiri. D*, Agneeshwaran. S, Ansarali. S, Dhineshkumar. G, Dinesh.

V, Dineshkumar. K, Dr. Vetrichelvan. T, Dr. Shoba. S.

Adhiparasakthi College of Pharmacy, Melmaruvathur.

ABSTRACT

Cancer is been ranked high among life threatening diseases, affecting all parts of the body. As
per WHO, the mortality rate increases worldwide. Managing the disease is essential and the few
awareness programs which were conducted were not to the fullest. A survey on awareness
about the disease cancer was conducted in melmaruvathur by the students of Adhiparasakthi
College of Pharmacy. A protocol was designed for the study which included a questionnaire
having all relevant details of general public with wide range of inclusion criteria whereas
excluding infants to young children. The criteria described for categories are C1 – Fully aware,
C2 – Partially aware and C3 – Completely unaware. With respect to population studies sample
size was calculated and preceded. The prospective observational study showed more number
of male participants. Majority falling under the consumption of non-vegetarian foods and a very
few under sedentary life style living. Stepping into the main goal, 16% fell under C1 category. To
the surprise 28.5% were under C3 category and the rest 55.5% under C2 category. During the
ongoing of survey, based on the evaluation every individual was guided and guidelines for
cancer screening and prevention tips were provided. From this study, we put forth to various
teams like NCC or NSS, Primary health care centers, Health service volunteers, school and
college students to organize programs at various places to create awareness about cancer.

Keywords: Cancer awareness, WHO, questionnaire, category and criteria, guidelines,

prevention tips.