World Cancer Day is an international awareness day usually celebrated on February 4 to increase awareness of cancer and to boost cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. The primary goal of World cancer day is to reduce the number of cancer casualties. It’s also an opportunity for medical personnel to get to see the environment.
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HOW WORLD CANCER DAY ALL BEGAN
World Cancer Day started as Mustafa World Cancer Day which was established on 4 February 2000 at the World Cancer Summit Against Cancer for the New Millenium, which was held in Paris.
The Charter of Paris Against Cancer was created to promote research, prevent cancer, improve patient services, also included is an article establishing the anniversary of the document’s official signing as World Cancer Day. It was signed at the Summit by the then General Director of UNESCO, Kōichirō Matsuura, and then French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on 4 February 2000.
Presently, World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008. it’s an opportunity to rally the international community to end the injustice of preventable suffering from cancer.
WORLD CANCER DAY 2020 THEME
This year World Cancer Day 2020 theme is “I am and I will”. This year 2020 marks the midway point of the 3-year ‘I Am and I Will’ campaign. Before 2016, the campaign themes included “Not Beyond Us” and “Debunk the Myths”.
‘I Am and I Will’ is an empowering call-to-action urging for personal commitment and represents the power of individual action taken now to impact the future.
The theme also acknowledges that everyone can address the cancer burden. Collectively, humanity can work together to reduce cancer risk factors. The campaign offers an opportunity to overcome barriers to early diagnosis, treatment and palliative care. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the international community, acting together can work to improve cancer control and achieve global targets to reduce premature mortality from cancer. In its recently released statistics, WHO claimed that 17 people die every minute from cancer.
World Cancer Day aims to save millions from preventable death from popular disease.
WHAT IS THE RELEVANT OF WORLD CANCER DAY?
It unites all cancer activist:
World cancer awareness campaign unites all cancer activists to come under one umbrella to address how to reduce the death cases caused by cancer.
It raises cancer awareness:
There is so many wrong information about cancer, its causes and its preventions. In Nigeria, there is a wrong notion that cancer is a disease for the rich only. But awareness like this tends to correct such wrong notions. And it’s an opportunity for the public to understand a lot about the disease and how they are at risk.
World Cancer Day campaign adds to the voice of the families of cancer patients:
World Cancer Day campaign is an opportunity for families and loved ones of those who are sick of cancer to raise their voices on how treatment has been in a more general way. Just as Trebek made his known. It also helps to reduce stigma, hence, the public has to be sensitized.
World Cancer Day campaign involves Government in the fight:
What makes this campaign so special is the involvement of the Government in the fight against this very popular disease. Times like this government agencies are lectured on their area of contribution to the fight against the disease. Even the media play a big role in the sensitization process.
It’s a time to analyse how far the fight has been.
An analysis is usually done to ascertain the growth rate in the fight against the disease, here you know how many death have been caused by cancer. This helps to know the area to direct strength and resources to.
In conclusion, this relevance should be taken seriously and not a time of outing for medical personnel after a long period of indoor work.
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