World Cancer Research Day is very important to showcase what breakthroughs have been made to help those fighting cancer. Cancer research is not only important on September 24th, but every day. Read the article below to find out some of the extraordinary research and its impact on the community.
Spotlighting the extraordinary impact of research
For the very first time, 11 organizations, including the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), joined forces to mark September 24th as World Cancer Research Day. The global campaign aims to raise public awareness of the importance of cancer research and the extraordinary contributions of cancer researchers worldwide.
Global collaboration for cancer research
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) together with the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC (link is external)), the International Agency on Research on Cancer (IARC (link is external)), European Association for Cancer Research (EACR (link is external)), European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO (link is external)), National Cancer Institute, part of the United States National Institutes of Health (NCI/NIH (link is external)), Cancer Research UK (CRUK (link is external)), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO (link is external)), The Dutch Cancer Society (KWF-DCS (link is external)), and Italian Association for Cancer Research (link is external) (AIRC) are together launching WCRD: a global joint effort to promote research and work towards the common goal of improving survival rates and the quality of life of cancer patients.
The cancer burden
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cancer will be the leading cause of death worldwide in the coming years. Fast forward to 2030 and the agency estimates that there will be 21.6 million new cases of cancer each year and 13 million deaths from the disease worldwide. That translates to one person diagnosed with cancer every 1.5 seconds and one person dying almost every 2 seconds. As life expectancy grows, cancer is becoming an increasingly serious health problem and we must take action to reduce the burden of this disease.
Cancer research breakthroughs
In the upcoming years, breakthroughs in cancer diagnosis and treatment, and foremost in patient quality of life are expected. Current cancer survival rates near 50%, but it is still necessary to improve this rate. Supporting cancer research will help to reach this goal.
