Close the Care Gap This World Cancer Day

The 4th of February marks World Cancer Day! With the theme ‘Close the Care Gap’, this day aims to raise awareness and encourage people, communities and countries to come together to take action. According to the World Cancer Day organisation, this campaign “is all about understanding and recognising the inequities in cancer care around the globe.” By encouraging people to have an open mind, assumptions about cancer are challenged. If you want to learn more about this day, make sure you read on!

What is World Cancer Day?

Led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), this day unites everyone from all over the world to fight against cancer. As well as coming together to fight cancer, this day’s goal also focuses on giving equal treatment and care to those suffering with cancer.

World Cancer Day has become a movement that started in 2000 with the world taking part in activities, events and gatherings. This includes school visits and visiting other places such as businesses, hospitals, community halls and many more.

‘Close the Care Gap’ also brings awareness to the barriers people face when the topic of cancer care is brought up. These are inequality barriers based on income and discriminatory acts based on ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

Due to this, the World Cancer Day organisation aims to close this cancer care gap in order for us to look forward to a cancer-free world.

How to get involved

Photo from WCD.

Create your own poster

One of the ways you can help spread awareness is by creating a poster with your own custom message. Once done, make sure you share it on social media to show it to the world. The World Cancer Day organisation has a section on their website where you can create your own poster!

Spread your message

By spreading your message, this will help to further spread awareness. You can do this by writing a blog post, an op-ed or by recording a video message. Make sure you emphasise World Cancer Day on your site if you have one! If you’re doing something special just for today, consider reaching out to a local journalist to help spread awareness! You can download the organisation’s action toolkit here.

Join in with the action

You can also show your support by joining in with the events listed on the Map of Activities! All you have to do is sign up and show up or you can consider volunteering too.

Host your own event

Hosting your own event can have the potential to inspire people. This can range from a free screening or a flash mob to a fundraiser or a fun run! If you do plan to host your own event, make sure you add it to the Map of Impact!

Start a conversation

The topic of cancer isn’t easy to start, but by having a conversation with your family, friends and colleagues, you can spread awareness and reduce the stigma. The World Cancer Day organisation has a guide on how to talk about cancer.

Take the World Cancer Day quiz

You can also take the World Cancer Day quiz to test your knowledge on equity and cancer.

This is what World Cancer Day is and how you can take part. If you want to offer continuous support, head over to World Cancer Day’s donation page or their ‘Take action‘ page! Alternatively, you can also donate to Cancer Research UK to help the world beat cancer.

To support other causes, have a browse through our charities from our directory here!