Abstract Global Cancer Observatory has predicted a staggering 57.5% rise in cancer cases in India by 2040, amounting to an increase of 2.08 million cases. This ever-rising trend of cancer necessitates that we have continuous, robust and unbiased data regarding the occurrence of cancer. An ideal method for this would be compulsory reporting of cancer cases to the public health authorities. For this review, we did a thorough literature search primarily focusing on cancer notification, but we also included documents related to health policies and healthcare challenges faced during cancer care and treatment. Key words searched were ‘cancer’, ‘notification’, ‘mandatory’, ‘compulsory’, ‘notifiable’, ‘statistics’, ‘burden’, ‘cost’, ‘facts and figures’ and ‘policies’. Having cancer as a notifiable disease, we will have reliable and valid data, thereby enabling us to devise our own treatment and management protocols. Accordingly, investment in cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment could yield substantial health and economic benefits. Until December 2024, only 16 Indian states have made notification of cancer mandatory. The coordinated efforts from all the stakeholders will help in establishing a robust cancer surveillance and epidemiological data, marking a pivotal step toward combating the cancer epidemic.
Barwal et al. (Mon,) studied this question.