The first topic of the month for this year is a big one – World Cancer Day, which is held every 4th of February, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). Every few years there is a new theme – this is the third year of the ‘close the care gap’ theme, and it is focused on making sure leaders around the world know that there needs to be a commitment to prioritising cancer research, ensuring that everyone has access to the health services they need and know how and where to get them.
Did you know…?
- There are around 375,000 new cancer cases in the UK every year, that’s around 1,000 every day
- Around 4 in 10 UK cancer cases every year could be prevented, that’s more than 135,000 every year.
- Cancer survival is improving and has doubled in the last 50 years in the UK
Despite all this 10 million people die each year from cancer worldwide, and by 2030 experts project cancer deaths to rise to 13 million, which is why research into cancer, and access to crucial health services is more important than ever.
There are many different fund raisers throughout the year, but World Cancer Day is one of the most important in raising awareness – it was created in 2000 and since then has grown larger, with more people taking part every year it continues. In fact, in 2023 alone there were over 430,000 mentions of World Cancer Day on social media and more than 850 events held in 102 countries.
Even with all that publicity, there is more to be done, and World Cancer Day’s main aim is to make sure that everyone has equal access to life-saving cancer diagnosis, treatment and care, no matter who or where they are – and hopefully everyone working together will help create the lasting change needed to get to that goal.
Remember that wherever we live we all deserve to have the best treatment and care possible – so, on February 4th please help to raise awareness, and let’s all do our bit to ‘Close the Care Gap’ in both UK and abroad.