Join the ‘Talking Hands’ activity to raise awareness for World Cancer Day

To encourage not only organisations and corporates to mark the Day but also individuals, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) – the custodians of World Cancer Day – has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the Day and the World Cancer Day campaign theme ‘We can. I can.’ as a collective or as individuals – do our part to reduce the global burden of cancer. Please visit www.worldcancerday.org to know more about the 2016-2018 new campaign.

The ‘Talking Hands’ campaign is an entertaining and easy way to get involved in World Cancer Day, to show your support to the fight against cancer and increase the global impact of the Day.

Everyone is invited to join the global effort whether you are an individual (carer, cancer patient/survivor, healthcare professional, cancer advocate, etc.) or an organisation (NGO, cancer organisation, association, cancer patients groups, etc.) or a corporate looking for an activity to engage your staff in World Cancer Day and/or share your key messages.

How to take part

You can be as creative as you like. Alternatives to writing on your hands are either using all kinds of mediums (e.g. piece of paper, post-it, notebook, blackboard, writing in sand, printing on a t-shirt, computer/mobile screen, etc.) or using the special A4 document containing a patchwork of the WCD visual elements.

A toolkit has been developed to encourage people to join the 'Talking Hands' activity and provides ready-made messages to help promote the campaign on your social accounts and get others involved. Please feel free to share the toolkit – available here: www.worldcancerday.org/TalkingHandsCampaign.

Support World Cancer Day on social media

Social media are a powerful way to spread messages on a global scale. There are many ways of supporting World Cancer Day on social media:

• Follow the official Facebook and Instagram accounts
• Sign up for the World Cancer Day Thunderclap campaign
• Change your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profile pictures and covers on 4 February by using those provided on www.worldcancerday.org/materials
• Use the official hashtags #WorldCancerDay and #WeCanICan
• Use social media to communicate about your World Cancer Day plans and share key messages in the lead up to and on the Day

The World Cancer Day Social Media Guide provides guidance on how to effectively use social platforms for marking the Day as well as ready-made tweets to adapt for your own use. The Guide is available in English, French and Spanish on www.worldcancerday.org/materials.

For more information about World Cancer Day, how to get involved, the campaign materials and the social media activity please email info@worldcancerday.org.

World Cancer Day is a chance to reflect on what you can do, make a pledge and take action. Whatever you choose to do ‘We can. I can.’ make a difference to the fight against cancer.