World Cancer Day, observed annually on February 4th, is a global initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilise action to address the global cancer epidemic. The primary goal of World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer. Key aspects of World Cancer Day include:
- Raising awareness: World Cancer Day aims to promote awareness of cancer as a public health issue. It also seeks to dispel myths and misinformation surrounding cancer, and reduce stigma.
- Encouraging action: The day encourages individuals, communities, and organisations to take action against cancer. This includes promoting healthy lifestyles, early detection, access to treatment, and palliative care.
- Uniting people: World Cancer Day is intended to be a unifying event, bringing people together with the common goal of a cancer-free future. It transcends geographical, cultural, and political boundaries, creating a collective force against cancer.
Themes and Campaigns Each year, World Cancer Day adopts a specific theme to focus efforts on different aspects of cancer care.
- "United by Unique" (2025-2027): The theme for 2025-2027 is "United by Unique," which places people at the centre of care and their stories at the heart of the conversation. This theme emphasizes a people-centred approach to cancer care, acknowledging that each person's experience with cancer is unique. It seeks to highlight the importance of personalised treatments and support systems, as well as the need for compassionate, individualised care to improve outcomes and quality of life. The campaign encourages discussion to reduce stigma and ensure equitable access to cancer care.
- "Close the Care Gap" (2022-2024): The campaign theme for 2022-2024 was "Close the Care Gap," which focused on inequities in access to cancer care services faced by different populations due to income, age, gender, ethnicity, etc.
- "I Am and I Will" (2019-2021): The campaign theme from 2019-2021 was "I Am and I Will" which aimed to promote personal actions to make an impact in reducing the burden of cancer.
Cancer Statistics and Impact Cancer is a significant global health issue:
- It is the second leading cause of death worldwide, representing nearly 1 in 6 deaths globally.
- In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, cancer causes almost 459,000 deaths every year and there are approximately 734,000 new cases annually. By 2040, it is predicted that new cancer diagnoses will be about 50% higher.
- Many cancers are diagnosed at a late stage when treatments are less effective.
- Modelled estimates indicate that by 2030, the Eastern Mediterranean Region will have the highest increase in cancer burden among all six WHO regions.
- In 2022, there were 9.6 million cancer deaths worldwide, and this is projected to increase to 13.2 million in 2030.
Prevention and Early Detection A significant portion of cancers can be prevented by avoiding risk factors and implementing evidence-based prevention strategies.
- Risk factors include tobacco use, alcohol use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, air pollution, and some chronic infections.
- Prevention strategies include not using tobacco, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, doing regular physical activity, avoiding harmful alcohol use, getting vaccinated against HPV and hepatitis B, avoiding ultraviolet radiation, ensuring safe and appropriate use of radiation, and reducing exposure to air pollution.
- Early detection is crucial for improving outcomes. It involves early diagnosis (being aware of symptoms and seeking medical advice) and screening (identifying individuals with findings suggestive of cancer before symptoms develop).
Treatment and Palliative Care Cancer treatment usually involves radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and/or surgery. Palliative care is also essential to relieve symptoms caused by cancer and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
