World Cancer Day is an international day marked on February 4 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.

2016 Theme : We Can. I Can.

World Cancer Day is the ideal opportunity to spread the word and raise the profile of cancer in people’s minds and in the world’s media. Currently, 8.2 million people die from cancer worldwide every year, out of which, 4 million people die prematurely (aged 30 to 69 years)

 Cancer Facts – WHO 

• There are more than 100 types of cancers; any part of the body can be affected.
• About 70% of all cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
• Worldwide, the 5 most common types of cancer that kill men are (in order of frequency): lung, stomach, liver, colorectal and oesophagus.
• Worldwide, the 5 most common types of cancer that kill women are (in the order of frequency): breast, lung, stomach, colorectal and cervical. In many developing countries, cervical cancer is the most common cancer.
• Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world causing 22% of cancer deaths.