International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD)
15 February is International Childhood Cancer Day. ICCD aims to raise awareness about childhood cancer as well as to encourage people and organisations to maximise their support in the fight against childhood cancer.
Every day and especially on this day, we reflect on our mission to ensure the best possible care and outcome for all children and young people with cancer.
Paediatric cancer remains a major public health and societal issue in Europe. While improvements have been achieved for some childhood cancers over the past years, there has been little progress in patient survival for difficult-to-treat paediatric malignancies, and too many young lives are still lost to the disease.
SIOPE and the European community of health professionals address the two goals of the next decade: to increase the cure rate and the quality of cure of children with cancer.
SIOPE Strategic Plan ‘A European Cancer Plan for Children and Adolescents’
The Gold Ribbon
The gold ribbon is the universal symbol to create awareness about childhood cancer and mobilise increased attention for minimising deaths and disabilities due to childhood cancer.
Gold is a precious metal and since children are our most precious treasures, it is indeed a perfect symbol for the childhood cancer journey. Despite improvements in the cure rates over the last decades, childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death in children above one year of age in Europe.
Each year, more than 6 000 children and young people die of cancer and 35 000 new cases are diagnosed with cancer in Europe. Moreover, there are approximately 300 000 survivors of childhood cancer in Europe today and this figure is expected to reach 500 000 by the year 2020.
We invite you to join the social media campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer.
Twitter: @SIOPEurope
#InternationalChildhoodCancerDay