As the world battles against the worst pandemic in a hundred years, cancer didn’t just go away.

In 2020, over 19 million people worldwide were affected by cancer, and almost ten million people died.

Cancer doesn’t wait for anyone. Not even a pandemic. 

Where early detection had to be delayed... where medical care was affected or simply overwhelmed in it’s struggle to cope with rising Covid-19 numbers... or continuing treatment became more remote and more difficult, cancer carried on regardless and unperturbed. 

According to the World Health Organization, over 50 percent of all countries partially or totally interrupted cancer care services to respond to the Covid-19 emergency.

Welcome to a new episode of Voices for Health. 

In acknowledgement of World Cancer Day, we spoke with Gilberto Lopes about the initiatives of the Union for International Cancer Control, UICC, to provide continuity of care for cancer during this pandemic. 

We discussed the importance of promoting cancer prevention, detection, and treatment as a public health priority, facing the growth of Non-Communicable-Diseases and their impact on health systems.