World Cancer Research Fund organises Cancer Prevention Action Week (#CPAW) every February. The campaign seeks to raise awareness of key risk factors for cancer and what people can do to reduce their cancer risk.
Cancer Prevention Action Week 2024 takes place on 19–25 February and the theme is physical activity. We want to raise awareness that being active has many health benefits including reducing the risk of some cancers including breast, colon and endometrial cancer, and encourage people to be more active in their daily lives through our #MakeYourMove campaign.
We are calling on MPs, MSPs, MS and MLAs to support Cancer Prevention Action Week by helping spread the word including on social media about our #MakeYourMove campaign
> Download your Parliamentarian toolkit (PDF)
Most people in the UK do not meet the UK Joint Chief Medical Officers’ national recommendations on physical activity, which is at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week plus muscle strengthening exercises at least twice a week.
Being more active in daily life doesn’t have to mean running a marathon or joining a gym. Instead, people can find moments throughout the day to do short bursts of activity, a concept called “energy snacking”.
These short bursts of activity could include:
We are calling on MPs, MSPs, MS and MLAs to support Cancer Prevention Action Week by spreading the word including on social media and encouraging people to join our #MakeYourMove campaign.
> Download your Parliamentarian toolkit (PDF)
To find out more about physical activity, health and cancer as well as physical activity policy across the UK please download this briefing.
Across the UK there are a variety of physical activity policies in force including measures to promote active travel, exercise on referral schemes, access to green spaces, and PE lessons in schools, but important gaps remain.
As part of the EU funded CO-CREATE project, WCRF collected and benchmarked physical activity policies of all four UK nations, further details of which can be found below:
> Physical activity policy in England
> Physical activity policy in Scotland
> Physical activity policy in Wales
> Physical activity policy in Northern Ireland
Questions? Want to find out more? Please email policy@wcrf.org