January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010

Activities in 2009 concluded with a Medical and Cancer detection screening camp in the village of Gangrai, which is located about 4KM from KDFCC’s home site in Langalberia village. Gangrai was chosen because we wanted to reach remote village areas to empower the villagers with cancer awareness knowledge and the availability of medical care. We continued this approach in 2010. KDFCC’s 2010 activities began with lots of energy and enthusiasm.

SARBERIA Medical and Cancer Screening Camp on January 10, 2010

Sarberia village is located in Dakhin Barasat, South 24 Parganas, about 20 KM south of our home office in Langalberia village. A local social club and the primary school authority helped us organize a medical cancer screening camp there. KDFCC volunteers and medical officers along with the CNCI medical team conducted the camp. A seminar was conducted and educational materials distributed to teach the villagers about the importance of cancer detection and prevention. A total of 313 villagers attended the camp of which 35 women participated in the cervical cancer screening.

Launching of CERVICAL CANCER PREVENTION & CONTROL INITIATIVE (CPCI) Project on February 3, 2010

The CPCI Project was launched by the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in collaboration with KDFCC. The program was launched at KDFCC premises in Gobindapur village, Langalberia, on February 3rd, 2010, on the eve of World Cancer Day by Shri Surjya Kanta Mishra, Hon’ble Minister in charge, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, India.

The CPCI project aims to provide cervical cancer screening to 50,000 rural women. CNCI will conduct the screening of 50,000 women aged between 30 to 60 years in the villages of 24 Parganas (south) and Hooghly and will provide appropriate treatment as needed. Participating women will be screened for cancer-causing types of HPV using QIAGEN’s hybrid capture 2 HPV DNA testing technology to identify those at risk for developing cervical cancer.

KDFCC is honored to participate in this project. Screening will take place at community based mobile field clinics in the villages neighboring Langalberia and screening camps will continue to be held on a regular basis.

A total of about 383 villagers participated in the medical and cancer screening camp that was part of the launch. About 80 women had underwent cervical screening. Seven doctors from CNCI and two doctors from KDFCC participated in this camp. KDFCC also conducted free blood sugar determination.

BIBIRCHAK Medical and Cancer Screening Camp on February 14, 2010:

As part of our outreach program we conducted a medical and cancer screening camp at Bibirchak, located about 4KM north east of Langalberia. A seminar was arranged prior to conducting the screening camp, as part of our educational campaign to increase awareness. KDFCC doctors, volunteers and the CNCI medical team conducted the camp. A total of 262 villagers attended the camp of which 46 women participated in the cervical cancer screening.

Cancer awareness program at Biral, Baikanthapur on March 21, 2010

Biral Shadharan Sammilani, a social cultural organization, arranged a cancer awareness program on March 21, 2010 at the Biral primary school. KDFCC was an active participant and held a medical and cancer screening camp. Sri Kabir Suman, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Government of India was present as the chief guest. The Biral village is located about 4 KM south west from KDFCC’s office premises in Langalberia. As usual, our volunteers, doctors and the CNCI medical team directed the camp. KDFCC also provided free blood sugar determination and distributed medicines free or at minimal cost. A total of about 341 villagers attended the camp of which 53 women participated in the cervical cancer screening.
 
Camps:

Aside from those highlighted above, we continued to conduct camps in different villages on the following dates:
April 18th, May 16th, June 13th, July 4th, August 8th, September 12th, October 10th, November 14th, November 28th, December 5th, and December 12th, 2010.

The December 12th camp was conducted at Haroah village in the District of North 24 Parganas, about 75 KM from KDFCC center in Langalberia, notable for its distance as an example of the expansion of the areas we serve.
From the 15 medical and cancer screening camps that KDFCC organized in 2010, 1038 Gynecological patients and 2482 general patients were treated as well as 693 women who were screened for cervical cancer.
During the camp cancer screening process, some women were diagnosed as pre-cancerous stage of cervical (CIN I, CIN II and CIN III). Our volunteers escorted these women to the CNCI hospital where they were successfully treated by surgery and medicine.Now these women are in remission and have returned to their normal lives, having been advised to be screened for cervical cancer in three years.
 
Seminars:

In order to reach our underserved communities, KDFCC held seminars to educate villagers to the topics of cancer screening, early detection procedures, and cancer prevention. The seminars are arranged in these remote villages prior to the camps in order to educate the villagers such that they understand the camps and want to access the free services. Accordingly KDFCC conducted cancer awareness seminars as follows:

• Bibirchak village on February 7, 2010 with 35 participants
• Chandpur village on September 29, 2010 with 40 participants
• Kazipara village on November 20, 2010 with 66 participants
• Harowah village in (N) 24 Parganas on November 28, 2010 with 64 participants.

Besides these educational outreach seminars, a training seminar for our members was conducted at the foundation’s office on March 14, 2010 with 26 participants.

Tobacco Cessation Program:

Considering the statistics that globally about 5.5 million people die from tobacco related illnesses each year, KDFCC decided to launch a Tobacco Cessation program with the support of local high schools. This is a long term collaborative project aimed to educate people about the negative effects of tobacco usage. Initially, students from 8th to 12th standard of high school will be the focus group for this initiative.

Thus, we conducted seminars regarding tobacco cessation as follows:

• Langalberia Surath Smrity Vidyamandir High school on June 25, 2010 and 256 students from grades X, XI, XII participated.
• Ratneswar High School on June 25, 2010 and 79 students from grades XI and XII participated.
• Baruipur High School on July 9 and 56 students from Grade XII participated.

KDFCC 3rd Anniversary celebration on March 7, 2010:

KDFCC completed three years in the effort to raise cancer awareness such that “cancer does not mean death if detected early”. Our volunteers, well wishers and supporters joined together to celebrate the completion of another successful and productive year. Together, we pledged to continue our work to raise cancer awareness. The celebration included a cultural program featuring our volunteers and their children, to the delight of all in attendance.

DISHARI Publication:

In early 2008 we launched our education outreach program, which consists of publishing an educational news magazine as another means of increasing cancer awareness. The magazine contributors include the children of our volunteers and neighbors. We are proud of these children and of our neighbors who gave their time and effort to publish the fourth edition (Puja issue) of ‘Dishari’.