World Cancer Day: How To Avoid Terminal Disease – WHO

World Cancer Day, marked each year on February 4, is an international day aimed at raising awareness of what can be done in the fight against the global cancer epidemic.

Cancer is described as a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.

Reports from The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 9.5 million people worldwide to die from cancer in 2018 with about 26,000 cancer deaths a day.

However, 2019 marks the launch of the 3-year ‘I Am and I Will’ campaign. ‘I Am and I Will’ is an empowering call-to-action urging for personal commitment and represents the power of individual action taken now to impact the future.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), this deadly disease is often unpredictable, as there are many risk factors for it that may be beyond control including your age, genetic makeup, family history and even environmental factors to which you may have been exposed.

But there are many other factors that are within your realm of control.

How people can help themselves:

1. Do not smoke or use any form of tobacco
2. Make your home smoke free
3. Enjoy a healthy diet
4. Breastfeeding reduces mother’s cancer risk
5. Avoid too much sun, so always ensure the use of sun protection
6. Reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution
7. Ensure to be physically fit
8. Limit the intake of alcohol