World Cancer Day takes place every year on 4 February and is the single initiative under which the world can unite to raise the profile of cancer in a positive and inspiring way. Coordinated by Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), this year’s World Cancer Day was taking place under the tagline ‘We can. I can.’ and explores how everyone – as a collective or as individuals – can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer and encourage people to be more active – in every sense – in the fight against a disease that, in less than two decades, will directly affect up to 21.7 million people per year.
To help spread this message, World Cancer Day is harnessing the power of sport by encouraging sports fans, organisations and personalities to use their voice and reach through the ‘Support through Sport’ initiative.
To help spread this message, World Cancer Day is harnessing the power of sport by encouraging sports fans, organisations and personalities to use their voice and reach through the ‘Support through Sport’ initiative.
Aside from prevention, a growing body of evidence shows that physical activity significantly helps cancer patients, not only to manage the life-altering side-effects of treatment such as fatigue, depression and heart damage, but also in reducing the risk of the disease worsening or recurring. Research shows, for example, that a breast cancer patient’s risk of recurrence and of dying from the disease can be reduced by around 40 per cent by doing recommended levels of physical activity.
‘We can. I can.’ make a difference: just as everyone can play a crucial role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing – by being active, limiting alcohol consumption, avoiding tobacco, and moderating red and processed meat consumption – everyone can also contribute to the success of World Cancer Day: every post, share or tweet adds to the noise and raises the profile of cancer in people’s minds, in the world’s media and on the global health and development agenda. For more information visit: worldcancerday.org/.
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