Is this Andhra village India’s worst cancer zone?
- Umamaheswara Rao
- TNN Mar 31, 2025, 14:39 IST IST
The rate of cases in East Godavari district’s Balabhadrapuram is three times the national average. Experts are not sure why
Balabhadrapuram, a village in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district, is named after Balabhadra, the god of agriculture and fertility, and the elder brother of Jagannath and Subhadra. The land is so fertile that it yields three crops a year — paddy, sugarcane and other staples.
A prosperous village. But none of that matters now because there’s a far more pressing issue: cancer. District collector P Prasanthi confirmed 32 cancer cases — an incidence rate nearly three times the national average. According to a 2022 study by Global Cancer Observatory, a WHO affiliate, the expected range would be around 10-11 cancer cases for a village the size of Balabhadrapuram, which is home to roughly 10,800 people.
A prosperous village. But none of that matters now because there’s a far more pressing issue: cancer. District collector P Prasanthi confirmed 32 cancer cases — an incidence rate nearly three times the national average. According to a 2022 study by Global Cancer Observatory, a WHO affiliate, the expected range would be around 10-11 cancer cases for a village the size of Balabhadrapuram, which is home to roughly 10,800 people.