World Cancer Day is celebrated to spread awareness about cancer and to encourage people to help those who are suffering from this disease.
As we all know cancer is a major disease that has a deep impact on almost every society. A large number of people in India and across the world suffer from this deadly disease every year.
So in this article, we are going to discuss the history, importance, and more details about this deadly disease. Let’s go through the article below:
World Cancer Day History
World Cancer Day is celebrated every year on 4th Feb to encourage our societies to give those people hope who are diagnosed with cancer and give them the confidence to survive this fatal disease.
This day is led by a non-governmental organization named the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), which was previously known as International Union Against Cancer.
This organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, having almost 2000 members in more than 170 countries.
It was formed in 1933, to promote the fight against cancer and raise awareness to mitigate it from society by organizing various social activities. Currently, Professor Anil D’Cruz of India is the President of this organization.
Under the Union for International Cancer Control, the first World Cancer Day was celebrated in Geneva in 1993 and got support from many well-known health organizations and cancer societies.
It was first made official in the year 2000 during the first World Summit Against Cancer, which took place in Paris, France.
This summit was attended by many prominent world leaders who gave their approval to improve and facilitate the quality of life of cancer patients worldwide, by signing a document titled “Charter of Paris Against Cancer” featuring 10 articles.
To advance the facilities and increase investment in the field of research and prevention were the highlights of this document. Article X of the charter officially declared World Cancer Day on February 4.
According to the World Cancer Declaration 2008, the governmental leaders and policymakers of all states should reduce the global burden of cancer.
This is possible only when the great equity to easy access to cancer services will be provided to all the people without any discrimination.
This declaration has set out nine targets that should be achieved by the year 2025. The target is to mitigate the fear of premature deaths by 25% from cancer by improving quality of life and cancer survival rate.
World Cancer Day Significance
This day has a lot of significance for us as a society. This is a reminder to tell people how important awareness regarding Cancer is.
One of the basic aims to celebrate this day is to target the misinformation regarding this disease. We should be well-informed about the disease so that we can give the patients hope and positivity to tackle this situation.
On this day many events are organized to speak up against the discrimination a Cancer patient faces in society worldwide.
Various fundraiser events also take place in different parts of the world to bring different societies, communities, and individuals together.
This day is surely a perfect reminder for us to support cancer patients by giving them the assurance that in the fight against this disease, they are not alone.
World Cancer Day Theme 2023
The theme of World Cancer Day 2023 is “Uniting our voices and taking action”, which is also an important message itself to the people worldwide. For the year 2022, the theme was “Close the Care Gap.”
It is also a three-year campaign to identify and address the issue regarding the inequality in assessing cancer services worldwide.
This year is the first year of this “Close the Care Gap” campaign that is dedicated to reducing stigma and insecurities among the patients regarding the disease.
This year is dedicated to recognizing the power of knowledge and how every individual has the ability to make a difference by raising awareness about this issue and reducing the mental impact of cancer.