World Cancer Day is an international day marked annually on fourth of February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
The International Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008.
The focus of World Cancer Day between 2022 and 2024 is to help “Close the cancer gap.”
This year marks the third and final year of the campaign.
The theme for this year is “Together, we challenge those in power”.
This theme encompasses the global demand for leaders to prioritise and invest in cancer prevention and care and to do more to achieve a just and cancer-free world.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti in her Message called on the region’s countries, communities, partners, and civil society to unite and foster universal access to cancer prevention and care.
Moeti said the cancer situation in Africa is disheartening.
According to her, in the year 2020, approximately 1.1 million new cancer cases occurred on the continent, with around 700 000 deaths. About 50% of new cancer cases in adults in Africa are due to breast, cervical, prostate, colorectal, and liver cancers. “If urgent measures are not taken, cancer mortality in the region is projected to reach about one million deaths per year by 2030.”
“Also, in 20 years, cancer death rates in Africa will overtake the global average of 30%. This is more so because cancer survival rates in the WHO African region currently average 12%, much lower than the average of over 80% in High-Income Countries.”
She charged Stakeholders to identify feasible priorities, implement evidence-based population-wide interventions and invest in cancer control.
Countries should use the updated WHO Best Buys, the facilitative tool designed to enable governments to select lifesaving policies and interventions for noncommunicable diseases.
Moeti reiterated that civil society, especially organisations of cancer survivors or persons with lived cancer experiences, are critical in the fight against cancer in Africa. Such a whole-of-society approach to cancer prevention and care is the essence of this year’s World Cancer Day theme.
