This year’s World Cancer Day theme is “United by Unique”. World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and has run since the year 2000. There are three key aspects of the day’s mission:
- To raise awareness about cancer
- To encourage the prevention of cancer
- Mobilising action to address the global cancer epidemic.
What Does the “United by Unique” Theme Mean?
This theme will be running across a three year period, from 2025 to 2027. The intention is to push for a people-centred approach to cancer care. In practice, this about recognising that cancer diagnosis is more than a medical matter. Behind each diagnosis lies a unique human story, with a huge range of emotions associated.
Recognising that every experience with cancer is unique, and uniting to create a world where those with cancer are seen as people, not patients, is the desired outcome of this.
Prevention is Better than Cure
Nearly half of all cancer deaths are preventable, which is a fact that the UICC is understandably keen to emphasise. The above statistic is the case because those deaths come from cancer cases which result from modifiable risk factors.
What are examples of modifiable risk factors for cancer? Tobacco and alcohol are two of the best known risk factors for cancer. Ultra-processed food and sugary beverages are increasingly coming to be recognised as risks.
Then there are the more environmental factors: chemical pollution, and a lack of green spaces being just two of them.
All of this shows how essential action at government level, to regulate risks, and support healthier lifestyles, is to a truly meaningful campaign against cancer.