World Cancer Day

 

ACS is collaborating with volunteers, partners & projects in 57 countries.

Today the American Cancer Society (ACS) is joining the global cancer community in recognizing World Cancer Day. The day aims to raise awareness, improve education, and catalyze personal, collective, and government action to reimagine a world where millions of preventable lives are saved and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equitable for all – no matter who you are or where you live. 

Cancer is responsible for 1 in 6 deaths worldwide each year – more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. And, it has a disproportionate impact on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with about 70% of cancer-related deaths occurring in these areas. 

On World Cancer Day (and every day!), ACS is committed to leading the fight for a world without cancer. Health equity is at the core of our work, and we have both a responsibility and an unparalleled opportunity to harness our 100+ years of experience, expertise, and ingenuity to make an impact. ACS has a large global footprint with volunteers, partners, and projects in 57 countries around the world all collaborating to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes.

Our global work prioritizes convening and supporting ministries of health, civil society organizations, and health care systems in LMICs to strengthen capacity and infrastructure across the cancer care continuum and achieve a more promising.  

We are making an impact in the lives of people around the world: 

• Developed 49 cancer treatment guidelines through partnership with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network for Sub-Saharan Africa, covering 88% of cancer patients in the region. 
• Signed agreements with Pfizer, Novartis, Biocon, and Viatris to offer products to African purchasers at prices that are less than half of current prices. The agreements cover 26 medications in 39 formulations that are part of recommended treatment regimens for 30 cancers. 
• Developed a mobile app for safe handling of chemotherapy that cancer centers can use to complete an end-to-end facility assessment and find resources to bring their practice in alignment with international standards. 
• Trained more than 25,000 health care workers in Africa in the safe use of opioids for pain relief as part of our Pain-Free Hospital Initiative
• In December 2020, ACS graduated the second cohort of cancer organizations in Kenya and Uganda from the SOURCE Program, a comprehensive organizational development program.
• In 2020, the SOURCE Program East Africa ECHO Clinic was piloted with 174 total unique participants and an average attendance of 70 individuals per session.

And this year, we are launching the BEACON Global Patient Navigation Toolkit and Peer Learning Collaborative in eight countries: Armenia, Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and South Africa. 

What you can do

Our masterbrand social media channels will be posting about World Cancer Day, so feel free to engage with and share that content. Our call to action? Learn more about our global work by visiting cancer.org and donate today. 

To learn more about the global cancer burden, check out Global Cancer Facts & Figures.

*Shared from MySocetySource.