World Cancer Day falls on February 4th this year, and here at WholeLife, where we take great care in both you and your community’s health and wellbeing, we believe it’s important to shed some light on what this means for us as individuals.
What is World Cancer Day?
The World Cancer Day initiative has been annually recognised for over 20 years and aims to promote action in a variety of fields; uniting the cancer community, reducing the global cancer burden, promoting greater equity, and integrating cancer control into the world health and development agenda. This year, the specific campaign of World Cancer Day is “Closing the Care Gap”, to advocate for equity in access to diagnoses, treatment and care.
Why do we recognise World Cancer Day?
In 2022, 10 million people will die of cancer, 65% of those occurring in the least developed parts of the world. When it is considered that more than one third of cancer cases are preventable, and a further one third can be cured if detected early on, the importance of taking action is clear!
How do I get involved?
As suggested by the World Cancer Day website, here are some quick and easy ways you can take action this World Cancer Day.
- Get social! Share a social media post with your message of commitment and share it with the world, or maybe update your social media pages with the official World Cancer Day profile cover images
- Use your voice! Start conversations with family, friends, etc. about the importance of cancer awareness, including early detection and organisations to get involved with
- Make a donation to the World Cancer Day initiative itself, or other cancer funds (e.g. Canteen, the Cancer Council, National Breast Cancer Foundation)
- Educate yourself and others! Find out about reducing your cancer risks, the impacts of cancer, and how you can be a supportive member of your community
- Be vigilant! Early detection is vital, so ensure you look for warning signs and get regular checks for various cancers
There are so many more ways you and your community can get involved with raising money, awareness or action this World Cancer Day, many of which are included on the World Cancer Day website.
So, this year here at WholeLife, we encourage you to get involved. Cancer is responsible for far too many tragedies in Australian families, so anything we can do to help put a stop to its devastation is a win in our books!
For further information on World Cancer Day, visit their website, and for more of our blogs, click here!
Image credit via: @worldcancerday
