UICC launches a new three-year World Cancer Day campaign ‘United by Unique’

The first year of the new three-year United by Unique campaign officially launched today, Monday 4 November, in a build-up to World Cancer Day on Tuesday 4 February 2025. UICC promoted an explanatory video on its social media channels throughout the day, so that everyone around the world could learn more about people-centred care and the theme ‘United by Unique’! A recording of the video can be viewed here.

People-centred care focuses on the health and well-being of entire populations or communities, aiming to improve healthcare systems and access for all, to achieve the best possible health outcomes.

It reorients healthcare around people instead of diseases. It recognises that every person is unique and prioritises their needs, hears their concerns with compassion and empathy, helps them retain autonomy, and empowers them to actively participate in the decision-making process. 

People-centred care also recognises the importance of social ties. It seeks to engage individuals, families, and communities beyond the clinical setting and is built on the knowledge that involving these connections enables more humane and holistic care that better meets a person’s unique physical, mental, and spiritual needs.

It takes a community approach to cancer care, improving health literacy and self-care while ensuring that health systems meet the real-world needs of the people they serve. 

“As we launch the 'United by Unique' campaign on people-centred care, let’s focus on the power of our collective efforts. Each of us brings a unique perspective and strength to improve the quality of and access to cancer services. By working together and putting people at the heart of cancer care, we can make a real difference.”
– Ulrika Årehed Kågström, President of UICC, Secretary General of Cancerfonden (Swedish Cancer Society)

The slogan ‘United by Unique’ highlights the fact that people have unique stories, needs, perspectives and situations that need to be taken into consideration when shaping care and health systems, while the community and everyone with an experience of cancer is united in their aim to take action against cancer.

The campaign will explore different dimensions of people-centred cancer care and new ways of making a difference. It will offer a three- year journey from raising awareness to taking action. It hopes to create a collective narrative that emphasises the importance of compassionate and personalised care. Ultimately, it seeks to inspire meaningful and lasting action by showing that everyone has a role to play in improving cancer care.

The World Cancer Day website has been updated to reflect the new campaign branding designed to raise awareness about the unique needs of people living with cancer united in their goal to manage their cancer in a way that is best suited to them.

Discover now the ‘United by Unique’ toolkit, posters, how-to guides and other materials. And join the Upside Down Challenge to shift people’s perspective on cancer. UICC is inviting people to share videos of photos of themselves upside-down, along with their unique story about cancer has affected them – as a patient, a loved one, a caregiver, or a health practitioner. A number of activities are planned in the lead-up to February 4th and on the day.

This past 4 February, more than 900 activities and events were organised in 127 countries. World Cancer Day trended globally on X and generated more than 500,000 social media posts 750 million impressions, and over 27,000 press mentions in 159 countries. 138 landmarks were lit up and more than 4,000 people signed the World Cancer Day Call to Action for greater equity in access to cancer services.

UICC looks forward to seeing the cancer community to raise cancer awareness and push for action with even greater energy and enthusiasm visible for the world to see on 4 February 2025.

Learn more about World Cancer Day 2025 and 'United by Unique'