4th of February
World Cancer Day (The theme of the World Cancer Day 2017 is “We can. I can.”)
World Cancer Day is celebrated every year on 4th of February all over the world to commemorate all the efforts done by the WHO, United Nations, governmental and nongovernmental health organizations towards making the strategy to fight against cancer as well as distributing the real message about this epidemic disease and its treatments including its precautionary measures by uniting all the people a day on global basis.
It is celebrated to plan some new strategies as well as implement some new programs which help to aware more people about this disease. This event is organized on annual basis under the supervision of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and other leading health organizations involved for cancer fighting.
World Cancer Day celebration was planned in the Geneva, Switzerland in 1933 under the direction of UICC (Union for International Cancer Control) and with the support various other well-known cancer societies, research institutes, treatment centers and patient groups. The World Cancer Day event was founded to fulfill all the needs to fight and control this deadly disease.
The day, 4th of February was established specially for raising the cancer awareness among people, teaching them about healthy diet, regular and proper physical activity and a lesson on how to get prevented from the environmental carcinogens.
"We must do more to end the many tragedies that cancer inflicts. About one third of cancers can be prevented, while others are curable if diagnosed and treated early. And even when cancer is advanced, patients should benefit from palliative care."
Ban Ki-moon
Cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. Other terms used are malignant tumours and neoplasms. One defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs, the latter process is referred to as metastasizing. Metastases are a major cause of death from cancer.
Cancer arises from the transformation of normal cells into tumour cells in a multistage process that generally progresses from a pre-cancerous lesion to a malignant tumour. These changes are the result of the interaction between a person's genetic factors and 3 categories of external agents, including:
- physical carcinogens, such as ultraviolet and ionizing radiation;
- chemical carcinogens, such as asbestos, components of tobacco smoke, aflatoxin (a food contaminant), and arsenic (a drinking water contaminant); and
- biological carcinogens, such as infections from certain viruses, bacteria, or parasites.
