TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Chairperson of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat compelled Indonesians to seek more information on early prevention of cancer in a bid to suppress the rate of the disease, and concurrently promote health quality.

"When discovered early on, cancer can be prevented and cured. Hence, efforts to inform people more and early on cancer detection are important measures to take," Moerdijat said in a written statement received on Sunday.

She made the statement in commemoration of World Cancer Day on February 4. This year's theme for World Cancer Day was Close the Care Gap, which aimed to appeal to everyone to put in efforts to address the inequity in cancer treatments.

The global theme was chosen following the experience that cancer patients had gone through throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the world for several years, she affirmed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) projected that deaths caused by cancer would still increase, even with the number exceeding 13.1 million in 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic had restricted cancer patients' access to treatment, thus hindering progress and compromising their lives.

Hence, she appealed to everyone to make World Cancer Day a moment to instill awareness, so young people would be able to adopt a healthy lifestyle in their daily lives.

She emphasized that public knowledge and understanding of cancer should consistently be promoted so that people would grow more aware.

To this end, efforts to prevent cancer by adopting a healthy lifestyle, early detection, and vaccination such as in cervical cancer prevention, can be implemented on a greater scale.

She also urged the people at large to take cancer prevention efforts as their concern.

Therefore, stakeholders and the general public must pursue collaboration to enable everyone to take part in addressing the cancer issues in Indonesia, Moerdijat said.

ANTARA