www.worldcancerday.org

World Cancer Day is fast approaching this Saturday, 4 February 2012. It is the occassion to unite the world in the fight against the disease through raising awareness, educating the public, and lobbying for change.

It is only by every person, organisation, and government, individually doing their part, that the world will be able to reduce the global cancer burden.

So get involved and do something this World Cancer Day – because Together it is possible!

What you can do to mark World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day is a truly global event, but to enable us to reach as much of the world’s population as possible, we need your help.

We appreciate that everyone supporting the Day has different needs and priorities, so to help focus your activities, we have identified three ‘levels’ of engagement which you may wish to undertake as you design your local 2012 World Cancer Day programme.

Please find an explanation of these engagement ‘levels’ below.

LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT

Level 1 – General public

You will be able to use the following activities to engage your network and the wider general public of your country on the burden of cancer, and in-turn raise the profile of World Cancer Day:
•Social media channels: Engage with your network via your Twitter / Facebook pages (global hashtags and key messages to share via social platforms are provided later in this toolkit).
•A special Facebook application will be launched on the 1.2.2012 for the occasion of World Cancer Day – be sure to use it and share it widely!
•Use the Cancer infographics: specially created for World Cancer Day 2012, these represent the global cancer burden in a visually engaging format (more information about these infographics can be found in the ‘Local activity guidance and toolkit overview‘ section of this document). Consider using these on your website and in member and media communications to support World Cancer Day.
•World Cancer Declaration: share the Declaration with your members, and other members of the public, and encourage them to sign-up on World Cancer Day.

Level 2 – General public / UICC member organisations and partners
•Add to the World Cancer Day online map of events and activities – Please share what you will be doing on / around World Cancer Day. The site is visited by media, individuals and organisations worldwide – therefore this is a great place to let the world know what you have planned – no matter how big or small.
•Engage with your corporate sponsors and other corporate or not-for-profit organisations in your country to encourage their support in World Cancer Day. They could help by organising fund raising activities on your behalf and/or by using World Cancer Day messaging in their internal and external communications mechanisms (newsletters, websites etc).
•Host a screening of ‘LIFE Before Death’: Members with a particular interest in palliative care and pain relief can support the Treat the Pain campaign by being part of a global film premiere series and hosting a screening of ‘LIFE Before Death’ – an award winning documentary film that raises awareness about inadequate access to palliative care and essential pain medicines. A special toolkit outlining ‘How to Host a Screening’ and ‘Presenter’s Notes’ is now available for download.

Level 3 – Advocacy push
•Lobby your national policy makers and Ministers of Health, to support the adoption of cancer control targets and indicators at the upcoming World Health Assembly in May 2012. Full details and support for these efforts will be provided in the UICC Advocacy toolkit.
For more information please visit the website www.worldcancerday.org

We look forward to being with you again in 2012 and hope that you will let us know if there is anything you would particularly like to see in your newsletter. All comments and contributions are very welcome.

Please let me know if any of your friends would like to be added to the mailing list. There is no charge and we do not sell or distribute the list to any third parties.

My best wishes to you all,

Chris Olivier, Editor
jhb@plwc.co.za
083 640 4949

For those of you who don’t know or are not on facebook and have not been grilled by my calls for donations, four of us ran a self
navigation self sufficient 107km trail run over the southern Drakensberg on the 12/13 November.

It was a journey into ourselves and our souls none of us will ever forget in the 32 hours it took us to complete it. Please read the attached report!

We did this for our own personal reasons but also in dedication to a close friend of mine, Cilla Hanson, who passed away in October from cancer.

We have created a website – http://causewecan.org.za/

And facebook group – http://www.facebook.com/groups/233481956715471/

We are raising funds for an amazing organisation called People Living With Cancer (PLWC -
http://plwc.org.za/) who help less fortunate cancer patients with support and a shoulder to lean on.

Having been through the cancer journey myself, this is the most important support someone in the throws of cancer could receive. (I know the organisation and they are an incredible group of people!)

Please visit our site or facebook group and if this or Cilla’s story resonates with you then any donations would
be so appreciated.

This is a one time offer, never to be repeated with a strong NO OBLIGATION clause!

Moneys will appropriately be handed over on Cilla’s Birthday on Monday the 5th of December!

To all the Cancer Buddies and Cancer Survivors – Cancervive  need volunteers to assist in working shifts at the Cape Town Bike Festival from 16 – 18 December 2011. If you can assist please  email Frieda Henning  – frieda@cancervive.co.za .They need all the help they can find, so please let support each other
in this wonderful fundraising event.

Cancer.vive will be involved in the festival and take hands with the Toy Run people at a tent where bikers will be able to store their helmets and jackets.  We will work with volunteers, but need help in the front desk.  Unfortunately we cannot use any 1Time tickets during the holidays and air tickets are extremely expensive.  If you are living in and around Cape Town or plan to be in CT at that time, please let me know if you (and your better half) will be able to work some shifts during this time.

Frieda Henning

Hope :

We wanted a UN HLM because we have solutions and we have hope. We know what to do to turn this global epidemic around. Cost-effective solutions exist to prevent and treat NCDs.

Courage :

World leaders must have the courage to invest in health now. Against the backdrop of a global recession this will seem like a challenge. But the cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of action.

If we invest in NCD prevention, early diagnosis and treatment now, we will save money and save lives further down the line.

Leadership :

 The HLM must inspire leadership and political will, both at global and national level. We will judge the success of this HLM by the impact it has on people currently living with these diseases, as well as on future generations. We are ready to commit the resources of the NGO community, but it must be governments that lead the way.

Partnerships :

Multi-sectoral partnerships must be the cornerstone of the NCD response. Beyond September we envisage ‘Triple P Partnerships’ involving public, private and people. People with NCDs need to be involved at all levels, from global policy to services design on the ground. Only then will we have true and sustainable partnerships for NCDs.

Choice :

 Every person has the right to choose a healthy lifestyle and be informed of the risk factors of disease. But choice of a healthy lifestyle will remain a distant reality for millions of people until governments take steps to improve the way their people live, work, eat and play. Governments urgently need to protect our children from over-nutrition and sedentary lifestyles, and looking ahead to the next generation, focus on the other drivers of NCDs, poverty and under-nutrition.

A Moral Duty :

 Over 100 million people with NCDs today lack the medicines and technologies they need to live long and health lives. This is a human rights violation that governments can and must put right at the HLM and beyond. Most NCD drugs are effective, off patent and cost just pennies to produce. We need accessibility, availability and affordability of medicines and technologies for people with NCDs.

A Long Term Vision :

We want the UN HLM to kick-start change. One UN Summit won’t solve all our problems in NCDs. There are no magic bullets for this global epidemic. We have to be in this for the long haul – for decades.

http://www.cancervive.co.za/Videos.html