Editor's Word

Dear Colleagues,

More than a year since the new coronavirus crisis began, its impact on cancer care has been clear, the number of patients with covid-19 has been increasing and 50 percent of governments having cancer services partially or completely disrupted because of the pandemic as per World Health Organization (WHO). It a warning that the burden of cancer is expected to rise further in the years ahead for a variety of reasons including population growth, with the number of new cases worldwide.

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Since the pandemic began, cancer researchers have been contributing their expertise and resources to scientific investigations of the coronavirus. Their findings have been broad in scope, ranging from insights into how the virus enters cells to the identification of potential therapies. Cancer researchers have also played a role in identifying and evaluating potential treatments for overactive immune responses associated with COVID-19. We need to do a lot of research to find the sequences of this epidemic on cancer.

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I’m delighted to inform you that the 6th year of the annual Gulf week for cancer awareness has completed successfully in all the GCC countries and Yemen. The activities of this week have contributed to raising awareness of risk factors and identifying the primary signs of the cancerous diseases. The aims are to raise health awareness about risk factors leading to cancer, to encourage the community to adopt a healthy lifestyle including diet and physical activity as well as to promote public health, professional health and the importance of early detection of cancer for better prognosis. I believe Gulf Week for Cancer Campaign activities work to motivate societies to adopt healthy behaviors and lifestyles that help prevent cancer. The report is ready and it has showed the greater effort of NGO’s to increase cancer awareness in our GCC countries.