Prevention of cancer attempts to eliminate the disease by protecting the individual and the community from the causative agent. This is called primary prevention. This involves environmental monitoring of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens), identification of high risk groups and procedures to abolish any contact between the carcinogen and the host.
Prevention also aims at correcting those pathological states which have already been produced, and which if allowed to continue, may end in cancer. This is called secondary prevention. The identification and management of such cases made possible through mass screening techniques applicable to cancer of the cervix, lung, mouth, stomach and liver, fall into this category.
The types of cancer prevailing in India are predominantly such as can be prevented and/or detected early by simple techniques and methods available today.