Every year on February 4th, the global community comes together to observe World Cancer Day. This day serves as a powerful platform to raise awareness about cancer, celebrate the lives of those affected, and mobilize collective efforts to combat this disease. It’s a day of solidarity, where individuals, healthcare professionals, and organizations unite to advance cancer care and prevention.
Each year, World Cancer Day is anchored around a theme that guides activities and messages. The theme for 2024 is “Close the Care Gap,” focusing on equity in cancer care. This theme underscores the disparities in cancer care access and aims to bridge the gap, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background or location, receives the care they need
The magnitude of the problem – There are 14L new cancer cases diagnosed in 2021 alone, and to give u a little perspective – that translates to 1 in every 8 women being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime (breast cancer being the most common cancer)
How do we curb this growth year on year?
1. Follow a healthy lifestyle – exercise every day/ eat right
2. Stop smoking and encourage everyone around you to stop smoking and stay away from smoke
3. Stay away from tobacco – smoke or smokeless
4. Control your drinking and never mix alcohol with smoking
5. Be conscious of the environment where u work and live- away from any kind of
pollutants
6. Get regular health check up done especially for people who are 50yrs and above.
7. If you have a family history of breast, ovary or stomach, colon etc, – be sure to get yourself screened regularly- all you need is to spend half a day once a year for a cancer check
8. Educate your family, friends, community that cancer is not a death sentence – 70 percent of all cancers are curable when detected early and that a normal life after Cancer is possible and it is a reality !