Most people know the impact that cancer has on people all around the world – it’s one of the most commonly known diseases and affects a lot of people globally. World Cancer Day is coming up on the 4th February, and it aims to make people more aware of the impact that they, as individuals, can have in the fight against cancer.
Did you know?…
- 9.6 million people die from cancer every year.
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable.
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide.
- 70% of cancer deaths occur in low-to-middle income countries.
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved each year by implementing resource appropriate strategies for prevention, early detection and treatment.
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is estimated at US$1.16 trillion.
(https://www.worldcancerday.org/what-cancer)
The World Cancer Research Fund has other facts and figures on how prevalent cancer is around the world, and how common the different types of cancer are by country (https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/cancer-trends). Overall, there were an estimated 18 million cancer cases around the world in 2018, which is a staggering amount. Of those, 9.5 million cases were in men and 8.5 million in women, and lung and breast cancers were the most common cancers worldwide – each contributing 12.3% of the total number of new cases diagnosed in 2018.
This number of cases will only continue to rise, and it is the aim of World Cancer Day to act and help to improve and save lives by preventing and detecting/treating cancer as early as possible.
Word Cancer Day has been around since February 2000 so this year will be its 20th anniversary, as well as marking the midway point of the ‘I Am And I Will’ campaign – a campaign that urges people for personal commitments to the cause and helps to show the impact that actions taken now will have on the future.
World Cancer Day has had a far-reaching impact so far, helping to raise awareness and educate people about cancer with the aim of saving millions of preventable deaths each year, with some of the accomplishments being:
- 15k+ press articles in 154 countries
- 947 events in 127 countries
- 700k+ tweets
- 62 active governments
You can show you support for World Cancer Day by looking at the following hashtag or even using the hashtag #WorldCancerDay
Or, if you’re also interested in learning more about good practice when caring for cancer patients, a free Cancer Communications Interactive Resource has been developed, and you can find out more and access the resource on the following link:
https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/resources/solutions/208-communications-interactive-resource