Authentic and accurate information and public education is basic to any disease control initiative. It is more so for a disease like cancer where more than 70% of disease burden is related to life-style factors such as food & beverage practices, personal habits, infections, tobacco consumption and social customs. In addition, urbanization, industrialization and increasing life-span are also known to influence the cancer pattern globally. This necessitates proper appreciation of risk factors and other causes of cancer by the people. At CFI we consider information and public education to be of vital importance in our cancer prevention initiatives. CFI has continuously worked on developing new communication strategy, methods and modules for urban and rural populations.

Title of Project:
Development of a Civil Society Action Model to Implement & Sustain Smoke-free Rules in the District of Howrah in West Bengal (India).

India has well-defined Tobacco control law (Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003) to restrict the use of tobacco in the country. One of the provisions of the law also prohibits Smoking in Public places (Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008). However, this law has not been implemented uniformly around the country hence there is a need to develop Smoke-free initiatives tailor-made to specific settings. Creation of Smoke-free places is a successful approach to reduce the harmful effects of second hand smoke but in India it had limited success. In India, most attempts for smoke-free have been focused towards urban areas and increasingly a need is felt to create smoke-free rural districts.

This project proposes to develop a replicable model by implementing the Smoke-free laws in Howrah district of West Bengal towards making it Smoke-free by 2012. This initiative will lead to the development of a customized smoke-free model which would provide the necessary inputs for addressing the challenges faced in making the districts of India smoke-free.

  Target population: Howrah district population

  Supported by:

  

 Investigator / Coordinator:

Sutapa Biswas  
 

Title of Project:
Partnership Against Tobacco and Action for Policies, Politics, Legislation & Empowerment (PAT-APPLE)

This project is a supportive initiative for effective implementation of the Tobacco Control Laws (COTPA 2003). The overall strategy for this project is to reach out to a greater section of population, mobilize more civil society groups and mainstream tobacco control work at the grassroots level. In addition, the project will continue to mount a coordinated campaign initiative against tobacco in partnership with other Bloomberg Global Initiative-funded organizations at the national and state level. It will have a strong component of advocacy efforts at the grassroots, capacity building and monitoring / reporting of COTPA and its violation.

  Target population: Citizens of West Bengal state

  Supported by:

  

 Investigator / Coordinator:

  Sutapa Biswas  
 

Title of Project:
A Systematic Study on Educating Young Urban Women on the benefits of Breast-Self Examination in Kolkata, India

The project is aimed at urban young women (18-25 yrs) from higher socio-economic group in the metropolis Kolkata as they are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer and have access to modest level of health care services. The proposed project envisages education of College and University-going (graduate & post graduate) adult women about the early symptoms of breast cancer. This would motivate them to adopt the practices that will lead them to report changes in the breast for appropriate intervention as per the internationally accepted guidelines of American Cancer Society. Such an exercise is expected to translate into down-staging breast cancer at the time of clinical presentation.

  Target population: Urban, young women between                                                18-25 years of age

  Supported by:

  

 Investigator / Coordinator:

 Sutapa Biswas  
 

  
Title of Project:
Development of a Health Communication strategy for optimizing Cervical Cancer Screening programme among rural women

The sensitization of the target women population to cancer awareness using new modules of IEC followed by cervical screening among eligible women (25-59 yrs). Finally the treatment of detected individuals are the proposed modes of operation in this project to evolve and test a proper health communication strategy for cervical cancer.




Target population: Rural women, married, between
                                              25-59 years of age

Supported by: Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of                                      Science & Technology, Govt. of India
Period: 2006-09
Investigator / Coordinator: Sutapa Biswas
Project status: Completed








Title of Project:
Prefield Testing of the WHO manual ‘Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Control – A Guide for Essential Practices'

CFI had the honour of being chosen as country coordinating agency for India to conduct the pre-field test of the Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Control Guide to Essential Practice (C4-GEP) in January 2005. Three meetings were organized at Delhi-Gurgaon, Bangalore and Kolkata where nearly 40 eminent experts, health providers and policy makers in cervical cancer from all over the country participated and provided their inputs to make it an invaluable guide for every one working in the control of cervical cancer. All the meetings were also attended by a distinguished representative of WHO.

Target population: N A

Supported by: Department of Reproductive Health and                                     Research, World Health Organisation                                     (WHO), Geneva
Period: 2005
Investigator / Coordinator: Maqsood Siddiqi
Project status: Completed

Title of Project:
Lifestyle and Environment Associated Cancers in India


Supported by: Department of Science & Technology, GOI                                      under USERS scheme
Period: 2009 – 2011
Investigator: Prof. Maqsood Siddiqi
Project status: Ongoing







Title of Project:
Directory of Ongoing Research on Cancer Prevention in South Asia


The Directory of On-Going Research in Cancer Prevention in South Asia is to provide an electronic source of information on the on-going studies on human cancer prevention in the region. The rationale of creating a Directory of this kind is the need to inform other investigators working in the field about the work that is going on in the countries of this region before it has been published.

Supported by: Screening Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO), Lyon , France
Period: 2008
Coordinator: Maqsood Siddiqi & Sutapa Biswas
 Project status: Ongoing




Programme: CFI Cancer Helpline

Cancer Helpline is the first project of CFI that was commissioned on 7th November, 2002 in Kolkata. It is the only cancer helpline based in Kolkata through which people can telephonically get information and advice on causes, detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Helpline guides people for medical check-up, diagnostic and treatment facilities available in different towns in the country as well as provides expert clinical guidance and counselling to survivors through tele-consultancy with its own team of expert councillors and doctors. The helpline is prominently displayed in press and media in public information columns.

Target population: Cancer patients, Care givers and                                               others
Supported by: CFI
Year: 2002 – Ongoing









Programme: Photography Exhibition “Lifestyle & Risk of Cancer”

An exhibition of photographs of more than 25 eminent photographers, from all over India, was held in Kolkata, India on the occasion of the Third Anniversary of CFI on the theme ‘Lifestyle and Risk of Cancer' from 7-11 November 2005. The exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts was inaugurated by Sri Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal. This was the first time in India that such an exhibition was organized to make people aware about the lifestyle predisposition to various cancers. Some of the eminent photographers who contributed their work were Raghu Rai, Satyaki Ghosh, Nitin Rai, Fawzan Hussain, Dilip Banerjee, Bikas Das etc.



Target population: General Public
Supported by: CFI
Year: 2005