Marking the final year of the 2016 – 2018 campaign themed ‘We can. I can.’, World Cancer Day (WCD) drives action on all fronts – in prevention, early detection, treatment and care – towards delivering on the nine World Cancer Declaration targets aimed at achieving major reductions in premature deaths from cancer, and improvements in quality of life and cancer survival rates. Thanks to the superb efforts of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), WCD continues to extend its reach and impact by raising awareness and education about cancer and engaging all stakeholders and individuals across the world to take determined action against this disease.
Just as the ´We can.´ calls on the collective to raise the profile of cancer as a global health priority and promote the wider implementation of determined and proven prevention strategies, the ´I can.´ appeals to each of us to do our part in reducing the global burden of cancer. World Cancer Day is currently reaching out to committed influencers of change including cancer organizations, governments, healthcare professionals and individual supporters to help spread the word, join together and act today.
There are several ways to get involved with a wide range of downloadable materials available including fact sheets for targeted stakeholders organized under key messages identified for ´We Can´ and ´I Can´ respective actions. For those of you with social media channels, you can also add your voice today to the World Cancer Day Thunderclap set to broadcast on the actual day, 04 February. You may also wish to give your support by participating in the Signs for Change social media activity. No matter what level of involvement or engagement, every action in support of the WCD campaign has an impact, each and every voice counts.
Commenting for VHIO Communications, Josep Tabernero, Director of VHIO, observed, “To avoid a worldwide ticking time bomb with cancer cases predicted to reach 21.7 million by 2030, the time for better preventing this disease is now. Given that an estimated third of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes, we can all make the right choices to decrease our own individual cancer risk. In so doing we will collectively succeed in preventing millions of unnecessary deaths and untold suffering. World Cancer Day also assumes a central role in ensuring that this crucial message resonates across borders, throughout communities”.
On behalf of VHIO, we encourage you to help build on the tremendous successes marked to-date by World Cancer Days. To discover more about World Cancer Day 04 February 2018, find out more about what you can do, make a pledge, and take action please visit: www.worldcancerday.org.
To browse the We can, I can messages, corresponding factsheets and suggested actors of dissemination click here.
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