Why is World Cancer Research Day Important?
The world needs to recognise, support and promote research on the causes, prevention and early detection of cancer as key elements in controlling the disease. This will lead us towards the discovery of a cure for cancer or transform the disease into a chronic illness.
Research is continuous and the results are most often long term. For this reason, it is imperative not to stop on the way and keep funding research to get more advances in the future. Step by step, we obtain promising results that will contribute to the end of cancer, or make it chronic to improve quality of life and increase life expectancy of cancer patients.
Cancer doesn’t care about distance so neither do we. Cancer research works and we can drive progress by working together without borders.
WCRD 2021 launch webinar
Don’t miss the free 2021 World Cancer Research Day launch webinar on 22 September at 16:00 CEST.
Internationally renowned experts in the fields of oncology and cancer research will share their experiences of the impact of cancer research on the survival and quality of life of cancer patients. They will highlight the need to support cancer research directly and the strategies that allow the results of research from around the world to reach patients as soon as possible.
Click here to sign-up to this free event
The confirmed speakers are:
What is World Cancer Research Day?
Officially launched in 2016, World Cancer Research Day (WCRD) takes place every year on 24 September. It was established to support the overarching goal of the 2013 World Cancer Declaration, which called for major reductions in premature deaths from cancer, as well as improvements in quality of life and cancer survival rates.
The World Declaration for Research on Cancer aims to promote faster progress to defeat cancer by coordinating research among global partners and building on worldwide investments in cancer research. WCRD was the first objective of the Declaration.
This global initiative is coordinated jointly by 10 organizations:
- American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
- Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC)
- Associazione Italiana per la Recerca sul Cancro (AIRC)
- Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
- European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
- European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
- International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) – National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).
The World Cancer Research Day (WCRD) is an international initiative supported by 107 institutes or associations and more than 600,000 individuals worldwide.
How can you get involved?
Your support will help us move forward towards a world that works together to eradicate cancer. There are many ways to join the movement, find yours and help World Cancer Research Day grow:
- Read and sign The World Declaration for Research on Cancer
- Share WCRD posts on social media
- Use the campaign materials to create your own posts
- Check if your institute is a supporting organisation and if it’s not then sign it up or encourage your supervisor to do this by emailing fundacion.cientifica@aecc.es.
- Organise your own event on 24 September to celebrate and promote research, from basic to clinical, that fights cancer.
How is the EACR involved?
The EACR is one of the founding organisers of World Cancer Research Day. We meet with the other founders throughout the year to plan events and promotion of the initiative around the 24th September each year.
This year following the theme ‘Cancer Research Works: Driving Progress Together’, the EACR have been gathering articles from our members about their personal science success stories for the EACR Science Communications Prize 2021. The winner will be announced on World Cancer Research Day.
WCRD will also be taking over our social media feeds from 20 September. Follow @EACRnews and search #WorldCancerResearchDay and #ResearchWorks.
