'Cancer day – A call to action' : Alexandra O'Connor Augustin, Director, BAYADA Home Health Care, Italy
It should be a day to reflect on the courage of those we know who have fought and are fighting cancer.
Predictions by the World Health Organization and GLOBOCAN state that there will be a substantial increase to 19.3 million new cancer cases per year by 2025, as a result of population growth and a rapidly ageing global population. Also important to note is that more than half of all cancers and cancer deaths in 2012 occurred in less developed regions of the world, and these proportions will increase further by 2025. In other words, cancer is everywhere and cancer is everybody’s problem.
February 4th is World Cancer Day. It should be a day to reflect on the courage of those we know who have fought and are fighting cancer. It should be a day to remember those who we have lost to cancer. But we must also use World Cancer Day as a call to action.
We have an obligation to our family and friends to work towards our own cancer prevention – to take the necessary precautions that help reduce the risk of getting cancer: use sunscreen, quit smoking, exercise 3-4 times per week, and eat more fruits and vegetables. These are small things we can do every day that will have a big impact on our health and well-being. We owe this to ourselves and to the people that we love, so that we can be in their lives as healthier people, for longer.
But we also have to use this time to advocate for cancer research funding. We have to use this time to start a conversation with our families and our colleagues. Engage with your network via your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages, and share your World Cancer Day stories and images. Use this time to come together and fight cancer – a thing that has touched all of lives in some way and that we all want to become a memory of something that used to happen, but doesn’t anymore. Let’s work together towards that goal. Let’s start today.
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