DTMT Network
Hyderabad’s American Oncology Institute (AOI), South Asia’s leading chain of cancer hospitals, has launched an exclusive campaign called Nyla, a movement for early detection and prevention of cancers in women, on the occasion of World Cancer Day, across eight states in India. The word 'Nyla' is of Arabic origin and means a 'winner'.

Under Nyla, AOI will run a training program where any woman who is highly determined, understanding, ready to share knowledge with other women and willing to contribute to society, can be a Nyla volunteer.

The training module will help Nyla volunteers to help raise awareness and educate other women about prevention and screening for cancers, talk to them about how they could reduce the risk of getting the most common cancers, have effective and supportive conversations about women’s health in general and encourage them to take positive steps towards a healthy and active life.

 On the launch of the program, Dr Namrata Singh, a physiotherapist and avid biker, who is undertaking an all India Bike ride to sensitize women about cancers, said, “The incidence of these cancers has only been rising and India alone accounts for a startling 25% of the cases, worldwide. I always wanted to take on the responsibility and do my bit in raising awareness among women about these dreaded cancers.”

Dr Singh added, “So I set out on a pan India awareness campaign on a motorbike to meet women wherever possible, be it a college, women's association, jails, hospitals.”

Dr Sudha Sinha, Sr. Medical Oncologist, AOI,  said, “NYLA is a program to improve cancer awareness, program for early detection and screening of cancer, educating everyone, a program where we as women empower ourselves and conquer this by taking control of our lifestyles. That is what NYLA all about. NYLA is just a beginning of that conversation. We will be having 2020 volunteers by the end of 2020, who will be talking in their communities about cancer and ensure proactive action against cancer.”        

In India, around 5.8 lakh new cases of cancer were diagnosed in women in 2018. Breast cancer accounts for 25-32% of all female cancers. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and accounted for 16.5% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in women in the year 2018.

Ovarian Cancer is the third leading cancer and accounted for about 6.2% of all cancers among women in our country. Breast (27.7%) Cervix Uteri (16.5%) Ovary (6.2%) and Colorectum (3.4%) cancers together account for more than half of all cancers in women.