World Cancer Day highlights importance of detection, prevention

"Early diagnosis is the key to reducing the nearly eight million deaths caused by cancer across the globe annually, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said" on Saturday to mark World Cancer Day, "stressing the importance of screening programs for healthy people to detect the disease promptly for easier treatment," the U.N. News Centre reports (2/3). The theme of this year's day, which is recognized annually on February 4, was "Together It Is Possible," "reinforcing that it is only by every person, organization, and government individually doing their part that the world will be able to reduce premature deaths from cancer and other non-communicable diseases," according to a press release from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (2/4). The WHO "reminded the world that cancer is responsible for close to 13 percent of deaths globally, accounting for 7.6 million deaths in 2008," according to the U.N. News Centre (2/3).