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A recent survey poll conducted by Macmillan Cancer Support on 500 children aged between nine to sixteen years old found that 97 percent of the children were either not knowledgeable about cancer or ill-informed about the illness.  The survey showed that many children felt the disease was contagious.

The study urges teachers in school to educate their children more about cancer. According to the survey, many children didn't even know what it meant to be suffering from cancer. While one in every five children thought that it was absolutely fatal, the others weren't aware of the consequences of the disease. 4 percent of the children even believed they could catch cancer from someone else.

Katherine Donnelly from Macmillan Cancer Support said many people, including teachers, think that young children should be protected from talking about cancer. "In many ways, it's still a bit of a taboo subject. Not all teachers feel confident about talking about it or know where to get the facts and figures from," BBC quoted Donnelly saying.

"The results showed that as children got older there was a slight increase in the number of those that had been taught about cancer, but not a hugely significant number."

Miss Donnelly added: "As cancer affects more and more people, the chances of children knowing someone with the condition grows - be that their grandparent, parent or friend. This can be really distressing and they may feel too worried to ask questions.

"Just over a quarter of children have been taught about cancer at school and this needs to improve." suggests that children lack proper knowledge about cancer and believe it is contagious.