World Cancer Day 2016, which takes place annually on 04 February, will this year mark the start of a three-year campaign designed to increase awareness of cancer and encourage people around the world to take action against the disease.

The three-year project, called ‘We can, I can’, focuses on individual lifestyle changes that can help reduce a person's chance of being diagnosed with cancer, as well as larger policy initiatives centred around better research, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

More than eight million people die from cancer worldwide every year and estimates suggest that this will hit 11 million by 2025. There were 2.5 million cancer deaths in the UK during 2015.

Gwen Kirby Dent, a senior medical negligence solicitor in Thompsons Solicitors’ London office, said: “Cancer is more than likely going to touch all of our lives at some point through friends and family. World Cancer Day acts as a reminder that much more can be done to tackle this destructive disease and provides a focus for people who have been affected to come together and support one another.

“On World Cancer Day, and always, we would call on the government to invest in cancer research and services so that patients can be confident that they are getting the earliest diagnosis and best possible care.

“Through our work with victims of medical negligence, we have seen the devastating effects of poor cancer care, where a cancer patient’s prognosis would have been greatly improved through earlier or more accurate diagnosis. If we are to win the fight against cancer delivering appropriate care to cancer patients and accurately diagnosing it as quickly as possible is vitally important.”