The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is the global organization behind the annual World Cancer Day celebration on February 4th. We are all working together to imagine a world without cancer, where everyone has access to life-saving cancer treatment and cancer care is available to everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live. We are doing this by increasing global awareness, enhancing education, and coordinating individual, collective, and government action. Numerous global gatherings of communities, organizations, and individuals occur every year in a variety of settings, including marketplaces, parks, schools, workplaces, community centers, and places of worship.
These gatherings serve as a potent reminder that everyone has a part to play in lessening the impact of cancer on a global scale. Cancer is a broad category of disorders that can originate in nearly any organ or tissue in the body when aberrant cells proliferate out of control, cross normal boundaries to infect other body parts, or spread to other organs. The latter process, known as metastasizing, is a primary contributor to cancer-related deaths. Other frequent names for cancer are neoplasms and malignant tumors.
Approximately 9.6 million deaths, or 1 in 6 deaths, were attributed to cancer in 2018, making it the second most common cause of death worldwide. Men are more likely to have lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancers than women are to develop breast, colorectal, lung, cervical, and thyroid cancers. Globally, the cancer burden is still rising, placing a great deal of physical, psychological, and financial pressure on people, families, communities, and health systems. Many low- and middle-income nations’ health systems are ill-equipped to handle this load, and many cancer patients worldwide lack access to prompt, high-quality diagnosis and treatment. Strong health systems in nations have increased the survival rates of many cancer kinds through early detection that is easily accessible, high-quality treatment, and survivorship care.
