Mumbai, India: WinZO launched the initiative ‘Play to Prevent Cancer’ to raise funds for early cancer detection through gene counselling and also to create awareness for its 200 million user bases on the critical role of early cancer detection. Through its ‘Play to Prevent Cancer’ hour on its platform, WinZO raised funds from its users and its 200 team members matched the amount raised through its user base to expand the total donation. This amount was donated to Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) at Tata Memorial Hospital and will be used to train the gene counselling team at the Tata Memorial Hospital.
WinZO opted to scale India’s early cancer detection capabilities since cancer has now become one of leading causes of death and imposes heavy burden on the patients, their caregivers, and families at large. During 2000-2019, ~13 mn Indians lost their lives to 23 forms of cancer; this is twice the size of Singapore. In 2022, globally there were 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million deaths.
The number of new annual cases is expected to rise to new 35 million cases by 2050. However, during the last 20 years, there have been significant breakthroughs in cancer prevention, treatment, and palliative care. The most impactful intervention comes at the stage of Genetic Counselling, rapidly emerging as the pivotal tool to preempt and mitigate the risk of cancer.
The partnership between WinZO, India’s largest interactive social gaming platform, and Tata Memorial Hospital aims to address the burgeoning risk of cancer through genetic counselling to improve knowledge of genetics prone to cancer and support early detection and treatment among prospective cancer patients in India.
The focus of the initiative is skill development for genetic counselling, supporting critical interventions on gene reporting & screening, and family counselling. Such investment in skilling and training on gene counselling is likely to have a network effect on how we address the concerns around cancer prevention, awareness, and early detection. This intervention will expand India’s capacity to provide genetic counselling through the country’s low-cost genetic testing lab at Tata Memorial Hospital, allowing more Indians from different socioeconomic backgrounds to access this critical intervention.
Dr. Rajiv Sarin, Head of the Cancer Genetics Clinic and Cancer Genetics/Genomics Lab at Tata Memorial Hospital, emphasized the importance of capacity building and skilling: “I thank WinZO and its users for their invaluable contributions. Their support for Genetic Counselling Professionals will be crucial in assisting millions of Indians diagnosed with cancer. These Cancer Genetic Professionals would provide timely, culturally sensitive, individualised, and evidence-based genetic counselling to cancer patients To maximize the impact of donated resources, such as equipment or infrastructure, we need an army of well-trained, motivated professionals.”
The journey of a cancer patient and their caregivers is also riddled with mental health challenges. Data shows that up to 20% of cancer patients experience depression, and 10% experience anxiety, regardless of the treatment phase or point in the disease trajectory.
The same data also mentions that over 35–40% of cancer patients have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder, including neuropsychiatric manifestations and stress-related, neurocognitive, adjustment, and somatic symptom disorders. Together, these challenges increase the suicide risk of patients and loneliness, particularly in the early stages after diagnosis.
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