Editorial, by the Chronicle Editorial Board
Tuesday, Feb. 4 is World Cancer Awareness Day, and students as well as faculty should take the time today to think about how cancer has affected their lives and the lives of people they care for who are affected by the devastation that cancer can bring into one’s life.
Knowing the myths, how symptoms can be detected and the resources out there that are available to test for cancers is crucial to keeping one’s body cancer free and healthy, because early prevention and detection can be the difference in living and beating the odds.
Not only is Cancer Awareness Day all about learning to care for oneself, but to also remember the loved ones that many of us have lost or have had to watch go through the process of chemotherapy.
Some of us have been fortunate enough to have had loved ones survive this disease, but many still pass away, and is why awareness of this issue is vital to prevention and early detection for all the additional loved ones we all care about in our lives.
According to worldcancerday.org the goals declared for this year are to strengthen health systems for effective cancer control, measure cancer burden and impact of cancer plans in all countries, reduce exposure to cancer risk factors, universal coverage of HPV and HBV vaccination, reduce stigma and dispel myths about cancer, universal access to screening and early detection for cancer, improve access to services across the cancer care continuum, universal availability of pain control and distress management and improve education and training of healthcare professionals, with the ultimate goal of major reductions in premature deaths from cancer.
For people who want to help, but do not know how to get started; there are many resources one can become a part of to help people that suffer from cancer or to even help with the goals of this year’s cancer awareness day.
People can do anything from just wearing a cancer awareness ribbon, sharing information via social networking, or even volunteering.
Resources to volunteer can be found at volunteerlearning.cancer.org/,
testicularcancerawarenessfoundation. org/volunteer/, and at nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-volunteer.
Also for information on early detection readers can go to earlydetectionplan. org/
