Do you really know what's harming your body?
World Cancer Day is on the 4th February and it's the only day when the entire world unites to raise awareness of the global cancer epidemic.
The day was first organised by the International Union Against Cancer in 2005, and has been running ever since, giving the world the chance to come together and educate and inform others to the ways we can prevent Cancer through the lifestyle choices.
Many of us will know somebody, whether it be a family member or a friend, who has been affected by cancer. Each year over 12.7 million people receive a cancer diagnosis and 7.6 million people die from the disease. Without any action this figure is expected to increase significantly by 2030.
World Cancer Day aims to help us understand how we can all take steps to prevent cancer and live healthier, longer lives. At the moment, a third of cancers can be cured through early diagnosis and 30-40% can be prevented but this isn't enough and only through global awareness of prevention can steps be taken to further increase the number of cured cases.
On the 4th February, there are events taking place all over the globe where either individuals or companies and organisations are doing their part to join in the fight.
Each year World Cancer Day focuses on a different issue that we can try and change in ourselves. In the past these have included giving children a smoke free environment and encouraging healthy diets and exercise. The day also seeks to help provide better care for existing cancer patients.
The World Cancer Day official website looks at the prevention of cancers by highlighting main lifestyle choices that are causing problems, such as smoking and excessive alcohol intake and sun exposure. Though we all know it's necessary not to do too much of these things, reading statistics about how life threatening they really are, is really shocking.
Though maintaining a healthy weight and diet is crucial to live a healthy life and is not directly linked to causing cancer, this is the first step many of us could take to leading a longer life.
What could you do to raise awareness?
Alexandra Baracskai