Closing the Care Gap on World Cancer Day

This Sunday, February 4, CRI and the global cancer research community are recognizing World Cancer Day. First established in 2000, World Cancer Day is a global initiative spearheaded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The day is set aside as an occasion for global unity among the cancer community, with a goal of cooperation and equitable care and treatment for all. 

You can give to CRI’s World Cancer Day campaign today by clicking here.

This year’s theme for World Cancer Day is, “Closing the Care Gap.” This alludes to the wide variety of factors that can limit cancer care for vulnerable, unrepresented populations, such as: 

• Discrimination based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, age, and other characteristics. In the U.S., the five-year survival rate for cancer is 71% among white women but drops to 58% for Black women. 
• Variances in education and income levels. In low-income nations, child cancer survival rates are a dismal 20%, but soar to 80% in wealthy countries. 
• Geographic location and proximity to care. Outcomes for patients in rural areas pale in comparison to their urban counterparts, even when compared to patients in the same nation. 

There are several measures individuals and organizations can take to help close the cancer care gap – from mobilizing resources, to sparking global conversations, and educating and empowering others, there is a role and an action for everyone. World Cancer Day is a useful time to take a step back and see how much the global cancer research community has achieved in recent years. To that end, CRI is vigorously undertaking several measures to ensure continued progress in the cancer immunotherapy research space: 

• CRI implements bioinformatics to fuse data collection and innovative science to forge future discoveries. 
• An over-seven-decade track record of fueling the future of cancer immunotherapy research.  
• CRI’s 2023 grant class features 73 grantees from 41 institutions across 10 countries. 

There are lots of moving parts involved in all the ways that we can help make cancer a disease of the past, and World Cancer Day is an important part of that goal. With your help, we can help create a world immune to cancer.