The next 3-year World Cancer Day (WCD) campaign themed Close the Care Gap kicks off with this year’s global day, 04 February 2022. Building on the tremendous successes of the previous series, I Am and I Will, this new international program devised by the founding and organizational body of WCD, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), will illuminate the major issue of inequities in cancer care around the world.
Set to tackle the many barriers that people have to confront in accessing optimal cancer care including income, education, geographical location and discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, and age –to name but a few- the aim of this present campaign is to close the care gap that currently costs lives across borders.
“Thanks to the extraordinary advances driven by research of excellence and empowered by stunning technologies coupled with the cutting edge radiology and surgical approaches, never before have we been better equipped to more rapidly diagnose and effectively treat this devastating disease. We are also gaining pace against cancer through determined efforts aimed at cancer prevention,” observed VHIO’s Director, Josep Tabernero.
He continued, “Despite such progress, the existing gap in access to optimal cancer treatment and care is a brutal reality in many countries and one that costs the lives of many patients. And, one life lost due to inequities in cancer care is frankly, one too many.”
As we gear up to WCD 2022, now just days away, we are getting involved by spreading the word about the campaign and promoting the various WCD actions and available materials to spur individual and institutional engagement aimed at creating change and making a difference.
On behalf of the UICC, and as a devoted supporter of World Cancer Day and member of its Advisory Group, we are currently inviting our cancer researchers, clinical investigators and personnel to participate in WCD’s #CloseTheCareGap video series. Specifically, each video starts with the sentence “Let’s close the care gap so that…”, and the person speaking will complete this sentence by expressing his/her wish and then end the video with a personal, professional or general response to the question: “Why do you want to close it?”
In addition, our Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus has organized a World Cancer Day event on the actual day, 04 February 2022, 10:00h-11:30h, that will take place in the Auditorium of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) General Building (10th floor).
Open to healthcare professionals and the general public throughout Catalonia, this special WCD session will be inaugurated by VHIO’s Enriqueta Felip, Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Group, Head of Section of HUVH’s Medical Oncology Department, and President of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM).
Featuring two round tables on the integration of precision medicine in oncology for the treatment of cancer patients & therapy and cutting edge research, the program counts on the participation of leading experts including VHIO’s Director, Josep Tabernero, Head of HUVH’s Medical Oncology Department and Past-President of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), Francesc Bosch, Principal Investigator of our Experimental Hematology Group, Ana Vivancos, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Cancer Genomics Group, and Cristina Casal, a Clinical Oncology Nurse of VHIO’s Clinical Research Oncology Nurses Unit led by Ángeles (Nines) Peñuelas.
For more information about the #CloseTheCareGap World Cancer Day campaign and how you too can lend your support visit: https://www.worldcancerday.org/. To access the take action and campaign materials please click here.
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