World Cancer Day Looks to Dispel Stereotypes

For example, cancer is not simply a health issue—it also a social, economic and gender one.

Cancer activists are fired up and ready to go, looking to dispel many of the stereotypes surrounding cancer. World Cancer Day is today—an annual event organized by the Union for International Cancer Control, a global health group. Participants are planning more than 200 events around the world, many of which are attacking at least one of three myths involving global health: cancer is a health issue, cancer is a death sentence, and cancer is my fate.

All three of those assumptions are false. Actually, a third of the most common cancers can be prevented and many patients who are diagnosed with it can now be cured. And this notion, particularly in the Black community, that cancer is a disease for the wealthy is completely unfounded. Cancer has many far-reaching economic, social, development and human rights implications.

Cancer survivors led a Twitter chat today at 11 a.m. EST using the hashtag #WorldCancerDay. There will also be a Google Plus chat and live video with Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, from 2 to 5 p.m on Monday. (USA Today)

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