World Cancer Day - February 04

World Cancer Day is marked on February 04 to raise awareness of Cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection and treatment.

World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration written in 2008

The primary goal of the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by Cancer by 2020

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)

nearly 30 % cancer deaths can be prevented by addressing the main risk factors -- tobacco use, alcohol, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and excess body weight.

Tobacco use is the single most important factor for cancer, causing 22 % of the global 8.2 million deaths due to cancer, and 71% of the global lung cancer deaths.

The southeast Asian region is home to 250 million smokers and an equal number of smokeless tobacco users.

 In women, cancer is caused when there is early menarche and late menopause, obesity and exposure to viruses like HPV.

it is estimated that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention.

Facts

There are currently around 200 known types of cancer. From lung and oesophageal, to bowel and skin cancer

Lung cancer is by far the biggest killer. Every year it takes the lives of around 1.4 million people globally – That is slightly more than the populations of Birmingham and Coventry combined.

Stomach cancer is the second biggest killer, with around 740,000 deaths per year, and liver cancer is third with 700,000 per year.

Most of recorded cancer cases are found in developed countries, namely in North America, Oceania and Western Europe. But, of all global cancer deaths, 70% are found in the developed world.

The number of cancer deaths is not expected to decrease any time soon, either. Projections say that the number of cancer deaths will hit 12 million across the world by 2030; a rise of more than 30% in under 15 years

Estimates show that more than 30% of all cancer deaths could be prevented by a changing lifestyle – including stopping smoking, more exercise and using more suncream.

Cancer has huge economic repercussions, too. It has been estimated that every year, cancer costs $290bn (£199bn) to treat – more than half of that is from medical bills.  

As we reach 2030, that number is expected to increase by more than 35% to $458bn (£315bn)