National No Smoking day is an annual campaign, not to harass or force people to quit smoking, but to spur smokers into action.
Stopping smoking can enable you to focus on move positive activities in your life… and help reduce your risk of cancer. In the UK alone, people are affected by cancer either directly or by knowing someone who is fighting the disease.
Looking to the future, the prognosis doesn’t look too positive according to latest figures released by Cancer Research UK who say that cancer rates will climb nearly six times faster in women than in men over the next 20 years.
UK cancer rates have been predicted to increase by around half a per cent for men and by around three per cent for women.* This will mean that by 2035 an estimated 4.5 million women and 4.8 million men will be diagnosed with cancer in the 20 year period.**
The reason for the acceleration of cancer rates in women is partly due to smoking and obesity as several of the obesity-related cancer types only affect women. Smoking also continues to contribute to the number of cancer cases diagnosed each year.
The latest figures also show the global burden of cancer has reached an estimated 7.4 million men and an estimated 6.7 million women being diagnosed worldwide each year.
Specific cancer types are leading to this rise in women, including, ovarian, cervical and oral cancers where rates are predicted to rise the most over the next 20 years.
Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “These new figures reveal the huge challenge we continue to face, both in the UK and worldwide. Research is at the heart of finding ways to reduce cancer’s burden and ensure more people survive, particularly for hard-to-treat cancers where the outlook for patients is still bleak. We need to keep working hard to reduce the devastating impact cancer can have on so many families.”
If you are looking for a local or national UK cancer charity to support, you can find a full list of registered cancer charities in our online directory. Among the registered associations listed are those concerned with cancer research. Others, such as a breast cancer charity or leukaemia charity, may focus on a particular variant of the disease. To find out more about a particular organisation - or to see how you can donate, leave a legacy, raise funds or volunteer your services - simply click on an individual charity for cancer.
If you want support or information on how to stop smoking check out ASH
