World Cancer Day 2013: Raise cancer awareness

February 4, 2013

February 4 comes as World Cancer Day . This day was initiated to raise awareness of cancer among common public across the world and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.

On this day, a number of health campaigns are organized every year by a number of organisations across the world.

It was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, which aims to significantly reduce death and illness caused by cancer by 2020.

The primary aim of the World Cancer Day 2013 is to clear the myth regarding cancer among the people who understand that there is no cure of cancer available so far.

The government will raise awareness among the people as to how they can reduce their cancer risk.
The announcement comes as a survey showed that a third of Britons still believe that developing cancer is due to fate.

About 157,000 people die of cancer every year in the UK.

Although the mortality rate is predicted to continue declining, due to a growing and ageing population the number of deaths is expected to rise to about 182,000 deaths by 2025.

The WCRF survey of more than 2,000 adults suggested that 28 percent of people think there is little that can be done to prevent cancer. But the truth is that with improved technologies, Cancer has become easily controllable and the side effects of this treatment have also been lowered.

In India too, hundreds of cancer patients are being treated with the improved technology which delivers high doses of radiation with great accuracy into the human body. It has fewer side effects.

The Cyber Knife Robotic Radio Surgery System is an advanced method of robotic delivery of high precision radiotherapy for treatment of tumors anywhere in the body.

The technology delivers high doses of radiation with great accuracy in one to five sessions, unlike 30 to 40 sessions for conventional radiotherapy.

There are minimal or no side effects as compared to traditional radiotherapy procedures.

Dr Kate Allen, executive director of science and public affairs at WCRF, said: “These results are a real concern because they show that a significant proportion of people don’t realise that there’s a lot they can do to reduce their risk of cancer.By eating healthily, being physically active and keeping to a healthy weight, we estimate that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented.Everyone has a role to play in preventing cancer but governments and health professionals are key to raising awareness and making it easier for individuals to change their lifestyle habits.”

Otherwise, there could be six million premature cancer deaths by 2025. Awareness and timely action is the best way to fight the diseas